The recent death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg aggravated deep problems in American democracy.
No sooner had Ginsburg’s death been announced than President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans made clear that they would immediately move to replace her just six weeks before an election, despite blocking even a hearing on former President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee when Justice Antonin Scalia died nine months before the 2016 election. This move was hypocritical as well as deeply damaging to democracy, since it manipulated the rules of the game for partisan advantage and made the court appear a political pawn of the party in power. Moreover, should Trump’s nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, be confirmed, the Supreme Court would have a 6-3 conservative majority—one that would likely endure for years to come.
