To The Clinton and Sanders Campaigns
By Len Shindel
The Supreme Court is too vital an institution to our democracy to be subjected to election-year brinkmanship. As the highest court in the nation, it shapes the very foundation of our laws and liberties. This process is not about the politics of Democrats or Republicans, but about the solemn responsibility that our Executive and Legislative branches share under the Constitution.
President Barack Obama
Americans love firsts. The first woman president. The first primary candidate to garner more than one million individual donors. The first reality TV narcissist to position his moniker above the White House. Heaven forbid.
Here’s another idea: the first time opposing candidates in a hot presidential primary mobilized their supporters in a common movement to protect the U.S. Constitution, the legitimacy of a president and the future of our planet.
Secretary Clinton, stop talking for a minute about how much you love President Obama and show it. Sen. Sanders, stop talking for a minute about the people’s revolution and put it to work right now to stop Mitch McConnell’s counter-revolution against the U.S. Constitution dead in its nasty tracks.
A massive confrontation between liberals and conservative activist constituencies over Justice Scalia’s vacancy is already underway. Several online petitions have gathered hundreds of thousands of names supporting the president’s authority to make a nomination.
This movement will inevitably swell without the imprimatur and direct participation of Secretary Clinton or Sen. Sanders. In my mind, that would be missing a great opportunity.
Between the strident Facebook memes and narratives blasting each Democratic Party candidate are tens of thousands of serious, experienced progressives who understand the need for the broadest unity to confront and defeat an ascendant right wing that has already swept through many of our states, taking a hatchet to hard-fought for legislation protecting everything from worker safety to the right of women to control their own bodies.
And between the Democratic and Republican Parties are tens of thousands of Americans who blame Republicans in Washington way more than Democrats for obstructing the wheels of progress.
Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell made it through his last election. But his solemn vow to put the defeat of President Obama at the top of his legislative priorities solidified his standing as one who puts party above nation. Today, that reputation is vividly compounded by his refusal to sanction hearings of President Obama’s nominee.
Media folks talk incessantly about the need for candidates to “draw contrasts.” Here is a chance for broad numbers of Americans to see the contrasts between political leaders who want positive change and constructive civil discourse and those who play upon our divisions and fears.
Secretary Clinton and Sen. Sanders: Let’s do it! Hold a joint press conference. Lift your hands together. Stand up, side by side, for everyone in America who is sick and tired of obstructionism, demagoguery and intolerance.
I’m no tactician. But how about our candidates proposing and sponsoring a day of protests at state capitals across the country? Bring on the Hillary and Bernie troops to join folks mobilized by dozens of groups across the progressive landscape. Call it a truce day for justice. The struggle for the high court demands just such a serious, dramatic response.
Maybe a Talking Points Memo story, “Why the Most Urgent Civil Rights Cause of our Time is the Supreme Court Itself,” by law professor Richard Hasan, is hyperbolic. But, at this moment, when Donald Trump flaps his gums about “opening up libel laws” to muzzle responsible investigative journalists, a time when others on the right lecture about the need to have “originalists” on the court who will resist the grasp of law cherished by our president, a little alarm is not a bad thing.
These are no ordinary times. Politics as usual won’t defend our cherished democracy.
Hillary and Bernie, just do it. Once President Obama announces his nominee, make the call. We will be there.
Editor’s note: We felt the urgency of this piece warrented pushing back posting of part 2 of “Transformative Politics: German Left/US Left – Same Challenge/Same Fight” until next week.
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This is a good and timely article. One can always overdo Weimar comparisons, nonetheless, one of the signs of its impending collapse was the failure of liberals and the left to protect the Republic’s institutions (even those of which liberals and the left were legitimately critical). So in the end, the Nazis were able to push over a hollowed out house of cards. Shindel’s article is a reminder that even if we believe that the Supreme Court inhibits radical progressive change, its weakening today would only serve those who want to dismantle democratic institutions one by one (even the inadequate ones).