US Democracy May Have 2 Years to Live, Depending on Upcoming Gerrymander Ruling

This is not a red alert. Democracy in the United States — tattered and shabby though it may be — could have less than two years to live. It’s not ten years or some indeterminate fuzzy slice of time. Two years, one final free midterm election in the middle, before the Supreme Court finishes the wrecker’s work it began in this last term.

Recently, there has been much talk about the possibility of a new civil conflict. If it comes, historians will likely look back at the rise and subsequent roar of this Supreme Court’s hard-right supermajority as the spark that lit the fire this time around.

The high court emptied the society of guns in one swift move, with a clear disregard for the will of the people. It made it almost impossible for regulatory agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to implement policy. This created a gap in the separation between church, state, and polluters.

The court has now revealed itself and may continue its rampage to GriswoldThe case is ostensibly about the birth control system, but it is the heartland of privacy rights in America. The court is expected to also take up Obergefell, potentially putting an end the rights of LGBTQ couples to marry. Justice Clarence Thomas is the suddenly vocal avatar this revanchist majority. reportedlyHas his eye on Sullivan,The case that protects free press freedoms

This is a ball of nightmares. The times are changing and there will be more. In fact, there’s a case on the court’s upcoming docket that — if decided in the same spirit as the others from this term — will turn out the lights on American democracy and cement the absolute control of an implacably radical Republican minority.

The court announced that it would take up the matter of Moore v. Harper. “At issue,” explains The Washington Post editorial board, “is a North Carolina Supreme Court case holding that the state’s constitution precludes severe partisan gerrymanders; the argument the petitioners make is that state courts shouldn’t have any role in overruling federal election rules put into place by state legislatures.”

They call it theindependent state legislature theory,” a concept most legal scholars find preposterous, so naturally the Supreme Court’s conservative majority wants to give it a long, hard look. After the North Carolina supreme Court rejected heavily gerrymandered legislative map designs by the Republican congressional majority, the case was decided. Should the petitioners win the high court’s approval in MooreThe consequences will be devastating.

If the petitioners win, Article II Section 1 of the Constitution will be rendered null and void, and state legislatures will theoretically be able to decide the winner in their state’s elections, with no recourse from the courts at any level. Currently, there are 30 states with Republican Party-controlled legislatures. Donald Trump’s lies about stolen elections and the Republican Party still control the party. the high-octane fuel powering the GOP base.

Such a decision would not arrive in time to affect the 2022 midterm election, but it paints a bright red bullseye on the presidential election of 2024 … which, by the way, Trump is reportedlyPreparing to announce his candidacy.

“Trump and Republicans are preparing to return to the Supreme Court,” warns conservative judge J. Michael Luttig, “where this time they will likely win the independent state legislature doctrine, now that Amy Coney Barrett is on the Court and ready to vote. Barrett has not addressed the issue, but this turns on an originalist interpretation of the Constitution, and Barrett is firmly aligned on that method of constitutional interpretation with Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch, all three of whom have written that they believe the doctrine is correct.”

None of this is happening in an isolated environment. This is a segment that believes democracy is a hindrance to the ultimate dominion over a vengeful Christian God. It has been working towards this goal for many years. Katherine Stewart explainsFor The New York Times:

The Supreme Court’s decision to rescind the reproductive rights that American women have enjoyed over the past half-century will not lead America’s homegrown religious authoritarians to retire from the culture wars and enjoy a sweet moment of triumph. However, leaders of the movement are already planning for a more brutal attack on individual rights and democratic self governance. Breaking American democracy isn’t an unintended side effect of Christian nationalism. It is the point of the project….

It is not a stretch to link this rise in verbal aggression to the disinformation campaign to indoctrinate the Christian nationalist base in the lie that the 2020 election was stolen, along with what we’re learning from the Jan. 6 hearings. The movement is preparing “patriots” for the continuation of the assault on democracy in 2022 and 2024….

The leader of the movement seems to be driven by a desire for dominion. This is the context that allows us to understand its strategy and intentions in the aftermath.Roe world. The end to abortion rights means that individual rights will be under attack in a more personal way.

A favorable decision in MooreThe program’s lynchpin is him. Instead of ripping off our rights one at a time, like has been the case this term, laying waste the idea of free and fair election opens the door for a tyrannical minority to wipe the slate. This is the case that will rule them all, just like Sauron and his ring of power. If you’re awake this year, you don’t know what the outcome will be.