As the Supreme Court heard argument in an “abortion” case, Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer whipped up the crowd of protesters outside with the words they so desperately wanted to hear.
Schumer can’t use the Trump defense of claiming total ignorance of how law and the Constitution work. He knows. He also can’t claim the brand of being a perpetual spewer of nonsense and idiocy when his team’s brand is to return the nation to normalcy, dignity and decency. He knows. And Chief Justice John Roberts knows he knows.
On the one hand, this statement evoked the usual tit-for-tat reaction from the useful idiots, ignoring that C.J. Roberts similarly criticized Trump for demeaning Judge Curiel in the early days of his administration, before it became clear that Trump’s rhetorical diarrhea meant this would become so regular phenomenon that addressing each impulse would be a full-time job. But that was Trump, a lost cause.
But Schumer? He knew better. And yet, that didn’t stop him.
A spokesman for Mr. Schumer said the chief justice had engaged in a willful misrepresentation.
“Senator Schumer’s comments were a reference to the political price Senate Republicans will pay for putting these justices on the court, and a warning that the justices will unleash a major grass-roots movement on the issue of reproductive rights,” the spokesman, Justin Goodman, said in a statement.
“For Justice Roberts to follow the right wing’s deliberate misinterpretation of what Senator Schumer said, while remaining silent when President Trump attacked Justices Sotomayor and Ginsburg last week, shows Justice Roberts does not just call balls and strikes,” he said.
Had Justin argued that Schumer’s words poorly expressed his intended message, it would have still been incredible, but at least not Trumpian in the boldness of its lie and accusation. Instead, he attacked C.J. Roberts as a right wing tool who lied about Chuck’s words, even though they’re on video for all to see and hear.
This wasn’t Schumer’s way of trying to persuade Justices Gorsuch and Kavanagh to be swayed by the power of the mob, by the threats of a senator (to do what?). This was Schumer doing the Trump, whipping up the crowd of no better grasp of the structure of government, of the nature of the Supreme Court, to believe that the Court is just another political branch of government to go in whatever direction the winds of outrage are blowing.
It’s not that anyone should be surprised that Chuck Schumer is a politician, is willing to pander to his tribe, to whip up a frenzy that he believes will work to his advantage, no matter how low he has to go to make it happen. Schumer has never met a microphone he didn’t love.
But just as pundits like Linda Greenhouse have been using their New York Times platform to delegitimize the Supreme Court in anticipation of rulings that don’t align with her feelings, the Senate Minority Leader has now joined her on the dais, taken charge of leading the chorus and, naming names and leveling threats of retaliation should they not rule as he demands, demeaned the office of Supreme Court justice to no better than any other political hack.
The judiciary is the “least dangerous branch” for a reason. The only tool it possesses, or weapon if you prefer a more violent metaphor, is its integrity. If the public accepts its rulings as legitimate, they are. If the public does not, our Republic is no longer viable, as our disputes will then only be resolved by the people with the most guns. It can’t be said with certainty, but Chuck being the senior Senator from New York, probably does not possess a gun.
On the ground, however, are the many unduly passionate believes whose emotions Chuck hopes to capture. Among them are law students, lawyers, for whom the issue of abortion, inter alia, is a hill they are willing to die on. And here, the Senate Minority Leader, a man who takes to the platform as the paragon of a party laying exclusive claim to morality and decency, tells them that these two despised justices will suffer should they not succumb to his, and his crowds, demands.
I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanagh. You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You will not know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.
Is there anything Schumer could do about it? Sure, though it’s unlikely. But what seems eminently likely is that the young ideologues who have to come to believe that their feelings justify their actions, and that as long as they truly believe they are serving some higher cause, they can do no wrong, will be far less circumspect than Chuck Schumer. Will mobs show up at justice’s homes in the dark of night to protest? Will they surround a justice eating dinner in a restaurant? Will some unduly passionate law student take it upon himself to punch a justice who comes to judge moot court?
When you whip up the mob, and delegitimize the courts, you undermine the last remaining institution that grounds the continued existence of the Republic. No, the Supreme Court may not rule the way you believe it should. Indeed, it’s often ruled contrary to what I would want it to.
But I know what would happen without it, and as much as it may fall far short of the Court I would wish it to be, there is no doubt how much worse off we would be without it. I know. So too does Chuck Schumer. He knows.