Dear Friend,
Last week the Supreme Court issued several disturbing rulings. They are disturbing in that they aim to diminish rather than expand the rights and opportunities of everyday Americans.
In Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, their ruling struck down the practice of affirmative action. This decision was an unfortunate step backward in America’s commitment to social justice, displaying the Court’s willful blind spot regarding racial injustice in America.
But the real problem is that such programs should have ever been necessary to begin with. Systemic racism begins in early childhood in the United States, and dealing with it there is how we will override the deepening racial injustices only exacerbated by this decision. Unequal opportunity in childhood education is where the problem begins and where we will ultimately solve it. My plans to establish a Department of Children and Youth, combined with my proposal for a 21st Century Economic Bill of Rights, will address these core issues.
The Court had other things in mind this past week, as well. In 303 Creative v. Elenis, the conservatives on the Court sided with a Christian graphic designer and has once again made it legal for businesses to discriminate against the LGBTQIA community. I am firmly committed to equality for LGBTQIA Americans and wholeheartedly support the Equality Act, among other solutions, to protect against such discrimination. You can read my full platform on LGBTQ equality here.
The deeper problem with this decision is not just with a specific group of Americans being discriminated against in the wake of this ruling, however. It is that any group of Americans can now be discriminated against. We can now expect a slew of incidents in which bigotry and prejudice are deemed justified on the basis of freedom of religion or speech. Note that the case brought to the Court wasn’t even a real case, and they knew it.
Oh, but they didn’t stop there! In another blow to equality in education, the Court ruled against student loan forgiveness. This was a clear overreach of the Court’s authority and undermined the powers vested in the Executive branch. But again, the root problem lies in the commercialization of higher education to begin with. The loans, quite simply, should never have been necessary or created. Higher education in public colleges and universities, as well as trade schools, should be tuition free for all. You can read about my plans in my education platform here.
Last week’s spate of undemocratic decisions displays a Court that has gone rogue, serving not the Constitution so much as its corporate sponsors. Given all that we’ve learned in recent months about the incredible influence of billionaire donors over Supreme Court justices, it is a risk we can no longer entertain. We must institute ethics rules regarding members of the Supreme Court (as they exist for every other level of the federal judiciary), and we should have a deep conversation about term limits. The Founders meant for there to be three co-equal branches of government, yet the modern Supreme Court has made itself more equal than the others and the effect is increasingly harmful to the tenets of our democracy.
For too long, Democrats have depended on judicial precedent to protect some of our most sacred freedoms. We learned last year, with the decision that struck down Roe v. Wade, how fragile that protection can be.
