Donald Trump is set to nominate a successor to liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who died on 18 September. His declaration speaks volumes about the opportunism of the ruling elite. Trump is proposing Amy Coney Barrett, described as a “social conservative”. She is pro gun, anti immigration and against abortion. His calculation is that he can increase his appeal among women that support the religious right’s reactionary agenda. Any nomination must be ratified by the Senate and it is here that the cynicism is most clearly exposed.
In March 2016 its Republican leader Mitch McConnell refused to set a date to consider Barack Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland. McConnell justified his intransigence on the seemingly democratic grounds that, “The American people should have a voice in the selection… Therefore this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president .” And yet, within a day of Ginsburg’s death McConnell promised a confirmation hearing for Trump’s candidate without delay. The outcome matters for a number of reasons. In the event that the result of November’s presidential election is disputed, the Supreme Court will determine the outcome.
A Trump appointee will entrench a Republican majority which may well confirm his victory. Beyond January, anti abortionists are planning an assault upon the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade judgment that legalised abortion, other rights are also in peril.
In November of last year, there was a brief moment of light amid the darkness that was 2020. Scotland became the first country in the world to make period products free for all. Just as the weekend and the eight-hour-day are now regarded by many as a given, future generations may be in disbelief that...
On 4 November last year, when many of us were watching the aftermath of the American presidential election, the US formally left the Paris Climate Agreement. Written in 2015 at the United Nations’ COP21 climate conference in Paris, the agreement is often considered to be the most significant document of international climate cooperation. Back then,...
To say 2020 was dramatic would be an understatement. The world situation has been completely transformed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the inadequacy of governmental and state responses. As we head into 2021 it feels like we are entering uncharted territory. To make specific predictions would be unwise. But the Covid-19 crisis raises fundamental questions...
The 2020 crisis we’ve endured isn’t an aberration of the system but, as Alex Callinicos argues, an aspect of its permanent crisis.
