Supreme partisanship and how to give it a bloody nose

Thanks to the Republican majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, you now can

kiss Democracy an eternal goodbye. Unless...

No sooner was I feeling pleased by the first round of Democratic Presidential Musical Chairs on Wednesday night than the U.S. Supreme Court slammed the brakes on my euphoria. 

In a 5-4 decision, the usual Republican suspects on the court decided that hey, even if a Congressional district is so bizarrely twisted and contorted that it could hide behind a corkscrew, judges are not allowed to second guess the judgements of the law makers. At least, not when the winners are Republicans.

No legal standards discernible?

Not if you keep your eyes shut.

“There are no legal standards discernible in the Constitution for making such judgments,” writes Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts, who seems to have forgotten the legal principle that "all men [and thus, by inference, their votes] are created equal." And presumably, ditto women and their votes these days.

Fortunately there are clearly discernible legal standards saying Supreme Court justices may be impeached and removed. Perhaps it’s high time the Democrats considered how to go about dumping these bums. (Only one Justice, Samuel Chase, was ever impeached, but it’s a precedent.)

I would start with the weakest target, Justice Thomas. His infamously scurrilous behavior relating to pubic hair on a Coke can, during Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, calls for some review in light of current standards. 

It’s my understanding that the Senate never heard from other witnesses who were waiting to testify about sexual harassment by Thomas. Further, there seems to be a good case for impeaching and removing Thomas for both sexual harassment and perjury. Go for it, House Judiciary Committee!

Next there’s Samuel Alito who, during his senate confirmation, uttered a pious paean to stare decicis. Watch this one with your hands clasped in the prayerful position, and try to imagine a little gold halo shining over Alito's head as he lies through his teeth.

Then, as soon as he was seated on the court, he ignored or overrode enough prior decisions to make it clear that he perjured himself licentiously during the Senate confirmation hearings. Put him on trial in the House and Senate for perjury. And then, when he is removed, put him on trial for the same crime in the criminal courts.

Neil Gorsuch? It's time to make the case  that because President Obama’s nomination for that Supreme Court chair was improperly withheld by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Gorsuch's subsequent nomination and confirmation was the fruit of a poisoned tree, and hence illegitimate. That one’s a long shot, but it’s time to start stirring the pot and seeing how the Long Shot Soup turns out.

Democrats, you too can

start your gerrymander engines

Meanwhile, in every majority Democratic city, county, and state around the country, Democrats need to start gerrymandering the living crap out of election districts, to make sure Republican votes in their jurisdictions count for as little as Republicans have been making sure that Democratic votes will count.

One person, one vote rule is essentially dead in this nation thanks to the Supreme Court majority in action. These days, it’s every bully, crook and pit viper for him or herself. So New York, California, Massachusetts and other Democratic states, gerrymander those Republicans until they bleat.

And if the Republicans don’t like it, let them run to the Supreme Court and try to find some justice.

If there is any justice any more.