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Sohn: With high court vacancy, mid-terms are critical

Protesters with Human Rights Campaign flags outside the Supreme Court following the court's ruling in the case of a Colorado baker who refused to create a custom wedding cake for a gay couple. A new justice retirement puts the balance of the court — and the nation — in jeopardy.
Protesters with Human Rights Campaign flags outside the Supreme Court following the court's ruling in the case of a Colorado baker who refused to create a custom wedding cake for a gay couple. A new justice retirement puts the balance of the court — and the nation — in jeopardy.

By Pam Sohn 3 min read

We have good reason to be very worried that the United States Supreme Court is on its way to becoming the most conservative in American history.

The founders of our country and the writers of our Constitution designed the Supreme Court to be the great balancer of our country, the counterweight of majorities and minorities.

So it’s tough to see that with Wednesday’s announcement of the planned retirement of swing vote Justice Anthony Kennedy, a Donald Trump nomination could well put the court on a solid trajectory toward majority conservatism – despite the fact that in six of the last seven presidential elections, more Americans voted for a Democrat than for a Republican.

The reason for this corruption of destiny is Senate Leader Mitch McConnell and the successful perversion of Senate norms and rules to steal the Supreme Court seat that President Barack Obama sought to fill.

McConnell refused to allow a vote on Obama’s very qualified and middle-of-the-road – even praised by many GOP members – nominee Merrick Garland because we were eight months away from an election and “the people need to speak.” Well, now we’ll soon be four months away from an election but McConnell says the Senate will do its duty of advise and consent in the fall – before the people speak.