Hi John, Alyssa Milano here. You may know me as an actress and activist, and I’m partnering with Congressman Hank Johnson to expose an area of our government that doesn't always capture the attention it deserves, our justice system.
Once confirmed, judges and Supreme Court justices are free to make policy decisions that the voters would not allow from members of Congress or the President, who are subject to being voted out of office. The checks and balances system of three co-equal branches of government has been thrown off by a judicial branch that lacks transparency and accountability.
A disturbing example of right-wing judicial activism occurred when the United States Supreme Court effectively overturned Roe v. Wade by allowing the State of Texas to ban abortions after 6 weeks of pregnancy. To add insult to injury, the Supreme Court used its “shadow” docket to decide the case.
Shadow docket decisions are secretive decisions issued before the case has been fully argued in open court. Trump Republicans have packed the court with Federalist Society judges, and the conservative supermajority has increasingly used the shadow docket to roll back liberties and protections for ordinary people.
As GOP legislatures across the country pass more and more extremist legislation, the Supreme Court is set to affirm these laws, and we can expect more use of the shadow docket to enact the Republican agenda behind closed doors and away from public scrutiny.
That’s why Hank Johnson has called out the Supreme Court for these shadow docket rulings and is exploring reforms to fix the problem.
That’s it for now, I’ll be back with more information about other issues in our court system.
Thank you,
Alyssa Milano
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