Trump and McConnell’s Vision for a 6–3 Court: Justice Is at Risk

Within a matter of weeks, the Supreme Court may be dominated by a 6–3 conservative supermajority that will stonewall our nation’s progress on countless fronts. Reproductive rights are almost certain to be challenged and likely to be one of the first items on the chopping block. But the damage will be much more far-reaching than any one issue.

Lives could be imperiled should the Supreme Court strike down the Affordable Care Act and curtail access to health care. Our planet’s health could be threatened through aggressive judicial action against environmental regulation. And American democracy itself could come under siege through a further dismantling of the Voting Rights Act and a continued hostility toward campaign finance reform and other legislative or regulatory action aimed at curbing corporate and wealthy people’s outsize influence in our democracy.

With so many decisions looming, it’s easy to overlook the threat to tax justice. But to truly grasp the threat posed by this judicial power grab, and to formulate a proper response, it’s important that we look at the dangers posed on every front.

Early next year, the Supreme Court will have an opportunity to cut taxes for the nation’s richest people by roughly $40 billion per year when it decides whether to invalidate the ACA, also known as Obamacare. After that, the Court could turn its attention to gutting administrative agencies responsible for everything from curbing pollution to combatting pandemics to stopping tax cheats from dodging their fair share. And, further down the road, a far-right court may be eager to strike down new reforms such as a wealth tax designed to address our nation’s yawning economic and racial wealth inequality. The threat a 6–3 conservative supermajority would represent to working people and the progressive cause that lifts them up is immense. Writing for the New York Times, Jamelle Bouie described the rush to give Amy Coney Barrett a lifetime appointment to the nation’s highest court as follows:

“From the point of view of Mitch McConnell and his conservative activist allies, [Barrett] is worth losing the White House and risking the Senate for. She is worth the chaos and disorder of the Trump administration, worth the scandal and controversy, worth the racism, cruelty and indifference to human life. She is worth his botched response to the pandemic, worth the death and deprivation that has followed from his refusal to govern the country and attend to the welfare of its people.”

Absent a change in its size or structure, a 6–3 conservative-leaning Supreme Court can be counted on to do one thing: shape American policy in the vision of Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump for a generation or more.