Over the past month, an extreme, activist majority on the Supreme Court demonstrated flagrant judicial overreach when it undermined long-standing precedents, laws, and constitutional rights. That majority repeatedly went out of its way to impose its ideology on the nation instead of simply “calling balls and strikes.” The consequences are dire: Millions of women will lose access to abortion; states will have even fewer tools to reign in gun violence; and climate change will be allowed to run rampant. Unfortunately, the rolling back of fundamental rights is likely to continue as extremist, right-wing justices with lifetime appointments flex their newfound muscle and seek to reshape American life.
Reversing the rapid retreat from America’s “high-water mark” of rights and effective governance will require both long-term and more immediate action. First, we need to begin laying the groundwork for structural reforms to the Supreme Court and the judiciary that will deradicalize the courts and limit the influence of extreme judges. At the same time, we also need to take shorter-term actions to respond to the immediate social and policy implications of the wrongly decided Supreme Court decisions of this last term.
The above excerpt was originally published in the Center for American Progress.
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