Saving The Supreme Court
The fight over Anthony Kennedy’s replacement represents everything that’s wrong with the judicial nominating process
Of the United State’s three branches of government, the Supreme Court has withstood the relentless erosion of public trust better than the other two. However, that began to seriously change when Senate Republicans refused to even meet with President Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, in 2016.
Due to the decision by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his Republican colleagues to rewrite the playbook, for the duration of his time on the court the seat occupied by Justice Neil Gorsuch will be seen as stolen by a significant percentage of the country. Unfortunately, because the play Senator McConnell called worked from the GOP’s perspective we’re likely to see it or something similar again in the future unless we dramatically change the nomination and confirmation process.
Because the United States Supreme Court gets the last word if it decides it wants it, it understandably is the court that receives almost all the public’s attention. Neither the media nor the public focus nearly as much on the appellate or district courts. They are even less observant when it comes to their own state supreme courts and local judges.
