Like so many others my thoughts today are dominated by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I feel that I should write about her, but I feel that I’m not qualified to write about her. If you want to learn about her life and importance of her work there are far better sources than me. I’ll link to two excellent sources by two of my favorite Supreme Court analysts. My only qualification is that I follow the court enough to have favorite analysts. The first is by Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times. It’s behind a paywall. If you have used up your free articles there are ways around it but if you can afford it you should simply subscribe, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court’s Feminist Icon, Is Dead at 87. The second is by Amy Howe of SCOTUSblog, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, feminist pioneer and progressive icon, dies at 87.
I’m affected by Justice Ginsburg’s death more than most because it will affect all our lives. The choice of her successor can have profound ramifications for America. I feel bad that we can’t just mourn her as a person but most also fear for the well-being of the nation, but that’s the reality we face. I immediately wrote letters to Mitch McConnell the majority leader of the senate and to Chuck Schumer, the minority leader. Unfortunately, our fate is directly in McConnell’s hands. He said that he would rush through a confirmation on anyone appointed by President Trump and there is nothing that anyone can directly do to stop that. The Democratic minority in the Senate cannot block a confirmation since the filibuster on nominations was ended. I am saddened by seeing that I have friends that don’t know this. I have friends that don’t know that the Democrats fought Trump’s two other appointees. Here is what I wrote McConnell:
When Justice Scalia died in February 2016 you would not even hold hearings on President Obama’s nominee Judge Garland. At the time you said, “The American people are perfectly capable of having their say on this issue, so let’s give them a voice. Let’s let the American people decide. The Senate will appropriately revisit the matter when it considers the qualifications of the nominee the next president nominates, whoever that might be,”
Are you a man of your word or only interested in the pursuit of power? If you rush the confirmation of a Trump appointee you will be remembered in history as a liar and a disgrace.
I posted that on Facebook and got many responses. People connected with the anger, but that doesn’t change the world. I don’t have much hope of swaying McConnell. He’s not even my senator. But politicians do feel popular pressure and he is running for re-election. If you live in a state with a Republican senator, especially one of the ones that has show hesitancy about pushing through a nominee write them.
I got fewer interactions to my letter to Schumer, but I think it’s the more important of the two.
I hate that we’re forced to think of this while we mourn the great woman’s passing. I know that as minority leader you do not have the power to stop the GOP from rapidly confirming any nominee that President Trump puts forward. What you can do is apply pressure, assure Sen. McConnell that if he does that and the Democrats gain control of the Presidency and the Senate the first order of business will be to expand the court. That if he doesn’t want to start an arms race, one that they already started when they wouldn’t rule on Judge Garland’s nomination, that he has to not hold a confirmation hearing for any candidate other than Judge Garland
I’m sure you aren’t going to take things lying down. We are counting on you to protect us. Thank you.
This is going to require brinksmanship on the part of the Democrats and might largely take place behind closed doors. There is nothing directly the Democrats can do but they can get Republicans to be afraid of their response if they gain power. This is how the filibuster survived as long as it did, fear of what the other side would do when they inevitably returned to power. Will it work? I don’t know. Neither do you, neither does anyone else. All we can do is hope. I will not give up my hope.
In times of trouble others turn to the bible for comfort, I go to The Lord of the Rings. After the Ring is destroyed Mt. Doom starts erupting. Frodo and Sam are surrounded by devastation. This is what they say.
‘I am glad that you are here with me,’ said Frodo. ‘Here at the end of all things, Sam.’
‘Yes, I am with you, Master,’ said Sam, laying Frodo’s wounded hand gently to his breast. ‘And you’re with me. And the journey’s finished. But after coming all that way I don’t want to give up yet. It’s not like me, somehow, if you understand.’
‘Maybe not, Sam,’ said Frodo, ‘but it’s like things are in the world. Hopes fail. An end comes. We have only a little time to wait now. We are lost in ruin and downfall, and there is no escape.’
I have never identified with Sam, always with Frodo, except for here. Frodo is broken but not his faithful servant. I see many of my friends echoing Frodo’s words, despair seems like wisdom. Frodo was wise, but here he was wrong. It was not then end. They were rescued. Even the wise cannot see all ends. I fight depression regularly. I know its lies. We can’t see the eagles coming, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t. It doesn’t mean that there’s nothing we can do, even if it feels like a small thing.
‘Well, Master, we could at least go further from this dangerous place here, from this Crack of Doom, if that’s its name. Now couldn’t we? Come, Mr. Frodo, let’s go down the path at any rate!’
That’s what we will do. We’ll go further from the Crack of Doom. Things will look better from there.
Wise Madness 