The rogue court and the fight ahead

Friends,Like many of you, I found it a difficult weekend. As Friday’s decision by the six Republican nominees on the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade sank in — along with Clarence Thomas’s threat to use the same logic to put a whole range of other rights on the chopping block, including marriage equality and full access to contraception — I became aware once again just how fragile are the rights we assumed we had. In just two days last week, the court deferred to the states on reproductive rights but struck down reasonable efforts by states to prevent gun violence. There is no logic here — just ideology. This has been the pattern for a decade or more. Even before Trump’s nominees were confirmed, the court’s conservatives had expanded the rights of corporations to flood our democracy with money while gutting the Voting Rights Act. What to do? Like many of you, I vacillate from outrage to despair. We have lost control of the Supreme Court. Many believe we’re about to lose control of Congress. Children are being gunned down by assault weapons. States are banning books about racism. Having gutted the Voting Rights Act, conservatives are leveraging every form of voter suppression they can, while the Senate — nominally under Democratic control — cannot pass a bill to protect the vote. Climate disaster looms yet we are doing little to stop it. Meanwhile, the man who engineered an attempted coup is still free to run for reelection and the Republican Party is slouching toward fascism. We can protest all we want, but everything we believe in depends on politics and power. Which is why the most important thing we can do now is to mobilize like mad for the midterm elections. We need enough Democrats in the House and Senate to carve out exemptions from the filibuster and pass national laws that guard reproductive rights, sexual rights, marriage rights, voting rights, and the planet. I know, I know. Democrats already have majorities in the House and Senate, yet that hasn’t been enough. The only answer is larger majorities — with Democrats who are not afraid to be Democrats, who have spines and care about the country, protect the Constitution, and preserve the world. All of this is on the ballot in November. My small contribution is found on these pages and in the videos I make with my young colleagues at Inequality Media — such as the one we just did, below, on the Supreme Court’s decision to reverse Roe and the threat it poses to other rights. I keep telling the young people I work with and in the classes I teach that I grew up in an America that expanded constitutional rights, battled racism and protected voting rights, and enlarged the middle class. I tell them that if we did it then, we can do so again. They hear me but I’m not sure they believe me. Their young lives have been marked mostly by public failure. Many were motivated to vote for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2016, and against Trump in 2020, but their patience is wearing thin. My scribbles on this page along with the videos are means of fighting back — spreading the word, educating people about what’s at stake and why we must take action, and arming people with arguments they need to make the case to those not yet convinced. So when I ask you to please share, I ask in the spirit of a political act. Sharing as a means of edifying, organizing, and mobilizing. Sharing to make our voices heard. Sharing for ideals that still burn bright. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertreich.substack.com/subscribe