Howard Zinn: Don't Despair about the Supreme Court

[Mme. Defarge]

It would be naive to depend on the Supreme Court to defend the rights of poor people, women, people of color, dissenters of all kinds.
by Howard Zinn
October 21, 2005

John Roberts sailed through his confirmation hearings as the new Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, with enthusiastic Republican support, and a few weak mutterings of opposition by the Democrats. Then, after the far right deemed Harriet Miers insufficiently doctrinaire, Bush nominated arch conservative Samuel Alito to replace Sandra Day O'Connor. This has caused ua certain consternation among people we affectionately term "the left."

I can understand that sinking feeling. Even listening to pieces of Roberts's confirmation hearings was enough to induce despair: the joking with the candidate, the obvious signs that, whether Democrats or Republicans, these are all members of the same exclusive club. Roberts's proper "credentials," his "nice guy" demeanor, his insistence to the Judiciary Committee that he is not an "ideologue" (can you imagine anyone, even Robert Bork or Dick Cheney, admitting that he is an "ideologue"?) were clearly more important than his views on equality, justice, the rights of defendants, the war powers of the President.

Read more:

https://progressive.org/op-eds/howard-zinn-despair-supreme-court/

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

1. Sorry, but I'm gonna despair anyway.

[oberliner]

2. Howard Zinn died in 2010

[Mme. Defarge]

3. Check the date of the article.

[oberliner]

4. Do you think his comments from 2005 are relevant to the current situation?

Quite a lot has changed since then.

[gabeana]

10. Oh yes they are

[CrispyQ]

5. Everything has changed.

I don't think he'd write that commentary today.

[marylandblue]

7. I am quite sure he would

It's more relevant now than when he wrote it.

[dalton99a]

6. That was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away

[Mme. Defarge]

9. From my ancient perspective

things looked insurmountably bleak in the 1960’s/early ‘70’s, during the Reagan/Bush years and the GWB presidency. That’s not to underplay the grave seriousness of the current threat to our republic, but to help put it into perspective. And to emphasize the importance of hope, and individual as well as collective action.

[FM123]

8. Zinn wrote that a long time ago, so I don't know if he would still feel that way if still alive...

but I think he just might. He had an interesting way of looking at things - I found an old quote from him that was similar to the OP

"The lesson of that history is that you must not despair, that if you are right, and you persist, things will change. The government may try to deceive the people, and the newspapers and television may do the same, but the truth has a way of coming out. The truth has a power greater than a hundred lies."

[JohnnyRingo]

14. Donald Trump is president.

"...the truth has a way of coming out. The truth has a power greater than a hundred lies."

What if our government officials, both elected and appointed don't care if they're lying, as in the case of both Trump and Kavenaugh? Both lie openly about things that can be disproven with a simple phone call or Google search.

Truth doesn't matter if people find convenience in the lies.

[mountain grammy]

11. Obama voted against confirmation

The respect I had for him then only grew when he ran for president.

[SayItLoud]

12. Never forget what Kav hissed out

"What goes around comes around". He will payback those he perceives challenged him big time. Just sayin....

[volstork]

16. He was presciently declaring

his own demise. Karma is a bitch, Bart. Just sayin'

[JohnnyRingo]

13. I didn't get anything relevant from that piece.

I read it in it's entirety and it seemed to take an extremely long route to say our vote matters more than who sits on the Supreme Court. While that may be true to a point, he incorrectly states that the SC cannot take away abortion rights because states can enact their own provisions.

If the SC decides abortion to be murder, no state can sanction it any more than they can vote to allow lynchings to be legal. At least I sure hope they can't, I'm not a lawyer.

[Politicub]

15. I needed to read this

Thank you for posting it.

[Mme. Defarge]

17. Avec plaisir!

Maybe right now people need to vent and mourn. For me, a historical perspective provides a reason to hope and makes me resolved to not let the bastards get us down.

[MariaCSR]

18. Kick and rec. Zinn would be soooo livid right now.

I'll bet he never thought it would be like this. Trump as President.

[struggle4progress]

19. Let's listen to some Paul Robeson

And standing there as big as life and smiling with his eyes
Joe says, What they can never kill went on to organize