With the passing of supreme court justice and women's rights leader Ruth Bader Ginsburg (notorious RBG), one of the nine supreme court seats is up for grabs. This means a lot given the approaching presidential election in November which could determine so many things politically, socially and economically. Also, this opened vacancy (if filled by President Trump's conservative nominee Amy Coney Barrett) has the potential of upsetting the partisan balance of power in the court by turning it into a conservative supermajority of 6 out of 9 justices if passed by Senate Republicans. Before her passing, RBG expressed her last wish: "my most fervent wish is that I not be replaced until a new president is installed". Justice Ginsburg had inquired for her successor not to be picked until a new president is elected.
With President Trump securing the confirmation of his pick for the Supreme Court this past Saturday (September 26), "the institution would become a font of business-friendly decisions for years to come, many corporate and public interest lawyers alike say." Conservatives tend to hold views that are inclined towards de-regulation, a small government (very little to no involvement), lowering of taxes and free market capitalism. Those views would obviously be reflected in court decisions giving space to a dynamic that would most likely 'promote' corporatism, and side with businesses and their interests. This raise a lot of concerns and questions, especially when it comes to business ethics and economic equality/equity. So far, these are assumptions and statements, only the future decisions of political elites will confirm what the prospect for businesses is looking like.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/09/24/finance-202-big-business-eyes-more-wins-with-padded-conservative-majority-supreme-court/
3 comments:
Along with her decentralized government views, I have also read she intends to help repeal the affordable care act, Obamacare. It is estimated that over 23 million Americans use this service which is intended to provide affordable healthcare to individuals living along the poverty line. While richer individuals may prefer a repeal, poorer ones may lose their healthcare coverage which adds more burden to their lives and decreases their purchasing power. It will be interesting to see if she actually becomes a judge in this short span, given that Obama's appointment was blocked because it was considered "too close to the election".
President Trump has already announced is Supreme Court pick as Amy Barrett who is a conservative, and she is set to appear before the Senate in two weeks. I agree with Kofi as Obamacare case is to be heard right after election and with a conservative majority on the bench it is very likely that it will be repealed. The important thing to note here is that another seat in the senate may not be vacant for years to come. Therefore the new Supreme Court Justice is a very important one. I do believe that a new justice should not be confirmed before the election. Trump is already against the mail-in-ballot voting and he might take it court in case he loses.
I am definitely on the same page as both of you. There are so many speculations of what would happen to ObamaCare if Amy Barrett is confirmed. The probability of her repealing it along with the other justices who hold the same views as her is pretty high. Right now, Democrats are trying to turn this battle into a referendum so the law isn't struck, hopefully, that happens because getting rid of this program as Kofi said would leave tens of millions of Americans with no access to healthcare and with no coverage. Trump has mentioned multiple times that he has a "replacement" plan but it was never revealed and with the elections coming up, it is not even sure that he'll get re-elected and finally unveil it.
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