A Times article concerning the FBI search of the ex-president’s home asked “Why now?” As a taxpaying citizen who believes in equal justice under the law, I also ask “Why now?” Investigation of Trump’s multiple illicit acts is long overdue. I similarly question of the Supreme Court overturning the Roe v. Wade ruling protecting a woman’s rightful autonomy to decide keeping or safely terminating her pregnancy, a law since 1973.
Why now?
In 2005 John Roberts became the Supreme Court’s Chief Justice. Republican support was unanimous. The news induced a sinking feeling. Listening to Robert’s confirmation hearings was disquieting: the joking with the candidate, the obvious signs that both Democrats and Republicans were members of the same exclusive club. Roberts’ “nice guy” demeanor, his insistence that he was not an “idealogue” were judged more important than his views on equality, justice, or the rights of defendants.
A justice should abide by the Constitution’s Article VI, “all treaties made… under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land.” Roberts plus two Court of Appeals colleagues overruled the 1949 Geneva Conventions requirement to treat prisoners of war lawfully (Iraqi prisoners were being held incommunicado in Guantanamo). The decision was overruled by a Supreme Court decision in June 2006. A month later the Pentagon released new standards entitling military detainees to humane treatment and basic legal standards when they came to trial, as required by the Common Article of the Geneva Conventions.
Politicians’ pious veneration of the Constitution and the “rule of law” is an enormous hypocrisy. The Constitution, like the Bible, is infinitely flexible and is manipulated to serve the political needs of the moment.
A high school senior in 1965, I viewed the U.S. Marines landing in Vietnam. President Johnson falsely publicized the Gulf of Tonkin incident to stir Americans into believing communism was a national threat. Congress enacted the draft without a declaration of war. The Constitution is ignored when it gets in the way of war. However, like my dad and seven uncles did during WW II and Korea, I felt obligated to serve my country, enlisting in 1968. When a suit by soldiers refusing to go since Congress hadn’t declared war, as the Constitution requires, the soldiers could not get four Supreme Court justices to hear the case.
It would be naive to depend on the Supreme Court to defend the rights of poor people, women, and people of color, and dissenters of all kinds. Those rights only come alive when citizens organize, protest, demonstrate, strike, boycott, rebel, civilly violate the law, and vote to uphold justice. Kansas voters did exactly that a few days ago. It takes guts and action for democracy to work.
The distinction between law and justice is ignored by many senators and representatives – both Democrats and Republicans – who solemnly invoke “the rule of law.” The law can be just; it can be unjust, but doesn’t need authority of a sanctimonious clique.
The Constitution gave working citizens no right to eight-hour workdays, a living wage, to safe working conditions, to treatment by a doctor when needed, to take time off to mourn a death or celebrate a birth, to a place to live. Workers organized, went on strike, and defied the law, the courts, and the police to create a great movement to win an eight-hour workday. Massed commotion forced Congress to pass a minimum wage law, Social Security, and unemployment insurance.
Women’s right to an abortion did not depend on the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade. It was won by grassroots agitation that forced states to recognize the right. If a majority of 63% to 68% of Americans favor that right, insist on it and act on it. No Supreme Court decision can take that away.
The rights of working people, women and people of color have not depended on decisions of the Courts. Like other branches of the political system, the courts have recognized these rights only after citizens have engaged in direct action powerful enough to win these rights for themselves. Voting works.
Citizens should not ignore the courts or the electoral campaigns. The courts and Congress, win or lose, can be used to dramatize issues. Still, knowing the nature of the political and judicial system of this country and their inherent biases, we cannot depend on the courts or our political leadership. Our culture – the media, the educational system – distract the public’s political consciousness about everything except who will be president and who will be on the Supreme Court. These are not the most important decisions we make. The most important job citizens have is to energize democracy by organizing, protesting, sharing information, engaging in acts of civil disobedience and voting to shake up the system. Demonstrations outside the White House and the peaceful marches in city streets work.
We can’t grieve over the increasing control of the court system by the right wing. The courts have never been on the side of justice unless pushed by the people. Those words engraved in the marble of the Supreme Court, “Equal Justice Before the Law,” have always been a sham.
No Supreme Court, liberal or conservative, will diminish the gulf between the wealth and poverty of this country or establish free medical care for every human being. Such fundamental change will depend on the actions of an aroused citizenry, demanding that the promise of the Declaration of Independence – an equal right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness – be fulfilled.
Please vote in November.
