Supreme Sorrow

I normally try to inject a bit of humor into my posts, but for various reasons I lack the requisite level of jollity at the moment. So I’ll go with the mood of the morning and post something all somber, sober and serious.

The Senate stands poised to make one of the biggest blunders in its history. For reasons that can most charitably be described as purely political, they are—if we accept the conventional wisdom—about to change the character of this nation’s highest court for at least a generation. The Supreme Court, already conservative by any reasonable measure, will shift further to the right to an extent that will transform it into a reactionary accomplice of the imperial executive. The sweat and blood of millions of Americans who fought hard for better lives will be profaned by a perfunctory floor vote for a man whose career inspiration was disdain for their cause and their sacrifice. Oh, our Senators will protest that they had no choice; Alito was, after all, far too slippery to be caught by a process that was rigged from the start. That admission, however, is what damns them now, and it will continue to damn them long after they’ve retired, written their memoirs, and turned to dust.

They know who Alito really is. In their hearts and minds they know. And they know that, when they allow the Republican majority to approve his appointment, they will be abdicating their responsibilities as representatives of the American people. But they’ll do it anyway. They are, after all, politicians, and it’s the politically expedient thing to do.