Recently, there has been a growing number of people on the right endorsing Vice President Harris as the only way to save democracy. In a related vein, David French has stated that he is voting for Harris in an effort to save conservatism. However, what French fails to mention in his essay is Senator Schumer’s nuclear bill, which would essentially override a decision by statute and strip the Supreme Court of its jurisdiction to review that law. Although French did inquire about Supreme Court “reform” during an interview with Justice Gorsuch, it seems that the issue did not resonate with him.
It appears that the only proposed solution to save democracy is to compromise the independence of the Supreme Court. Perhaps if French were to suggest electing Harris while keeping Congress in Republican hands, it could potentially delay SCOTUS “reform” for a few years. However, endorsing Harris without addressing the state of Congress almost guarantees the destruction of the filibuster and the passage of jurisdiction stripping and/or court packing.
The American Bar Association recently endorsed a series of “democracy” reforms but has remained silent on jurisdiction stripping. Justice Thomas has often warned about the consequences of weakening the last independent branch of government. It is worth noting that Harris served as Attorney General of California for about six years before becoming a Senator. During her time in office, she signed approximately fifty Supreme Court briefs, including cert-stage briefs, merit-stage briefs, and amicus briefs. This detailed record provides insight into how a President Harris would approach the Constitution and the Court.
To summarize, Harris has filed briefs in support of abortion access, opposed pro-life demonstrators at clinics, supported the contraception mandate for private employers and religious non-profits, opposed immigration-related cases, favored compelled payment of union dues, opposed challenges to the Affordable Care Act, supported affirmative action policies, favored broad enforcement of disparate impact suits, and supported obsolete Voting Rights Act coverage formulas.
Considering Harris’s track record and the questions she posed to Justices Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett during their confirmation hearings, it is difficult to see how electing her to the White House would “save conservatism.”
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