The U.S. Supreme Court has embarked on a "radical" departure from precedent, and one legal expert said their moves should be seen as an "ominous" warning about the 2024 election.
The court has issued a series of decisions this term that weakened the rights of those accused of crimes, limited states' authority to make gun laws, and required taxpayer funding for religious schools, and they're expected to overturn the Roe v. Wade ruling as soon as Friday, and legal scholar Norman Ornstein sounded an alarm about their rulings.
"We now have a Supreme Court that is moving every aspect of our society in a radical direction, blowing up any reasonable reading of the Constitution to fit its radical ideological and partisan views," Ornstein tweeted. "It spits on the actions of legislatures and preempts the other branches."
\u201cWe now have a Supreme Court that is moving every aspect of our society in a radical direction, blowing up any reasonable reading of the Constitution to fit its radical ideological and partisan views. It spits on the actions of legislatures and preempts the other branches. 1\u201d— Norman Ornstein (@Norman Ornstein) 1655997368
The court has taken an outsize role in government that was never intended by the Constitution's authors, Ornstein wrote, and he said the 6-3 rightward majority that has been making these plainly partisan decisions was assembled through political corruption.
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"The Framers did not expect the judiciary to be the dominant branch of government," Ornstein wrote. "The Court has justices jammed onto the bench by violations of fundamental norms, dishonest in their confirmations and untethered to any precedent. Congress can curtail its jurisdiction and more."
He accused some of the justices of lying about their legal positions during their confirmation hearings to disguise their radical views, and Ornstein said it was a "genuine crisis" over the court's loss of its "fundamental legitimacy."
"It also suggests an ominous harbinger," Ornstein wrote. "If Republicans move to manipulate electoral votes in 2024, it is very likely the Alito Court will let them get away with it, using the radical interpretation that state courts have no role in enforcing state constitutions or laws. That state legislatures are supreme and unlimited in choosing electors. We are moving closer and closer to a version of Hungary, but with the elements of a Wild West added in."
