Supreme Court Unleashes Reign of Terror on Americans
Sitting down to write this week after days of the Supreme Court’s intense right-wing assault on our constitutional rights and, really, on our right to live free from fear, I had to ask myself, “Why bother?”
Reading cases in which Justice Clarence Thomas struck down a New York conceal carry gun law and Justice Samuel Alito reversed Roe v. Wade and eliminated a 50 year-old constitutional right, I find myself on one hand compelled to parse through the irrationalities, specious reasoning, abuses of history, and frankly bad faith arguments. It’s hard to believe Alito and Thomas are considered brilliant minds and that they are in a position to make important decisions about the lives of Americans.
As a professor of American literature and culture who has taught his share of college-level writing courses, I have to say the arguments in these opinions are so poorly constructed it’s hard to see them receiving passing grades in an English 101 basic composition class.
I could pull out my read pen, mark them up, and then tease through the gaps and lacks of logical coherence in the arguments, the faulty premises, and so forth, trying to persuade audiences that these opinions represent more the raw ideological impositions of politically-motivated jurists than thoughtful legal reflection rooted in care for the…
