Continue reading Weekend Edition NPR’s NPR legal reporter Nina Totenberg told NPR’s liberal base on Saturday that although the Supreme Court ruled in favor of abortion, the court has just begun and that there will be another term next year. The court is now the most conservative it has been in 75 years. She (and other public broadcasters) highlighted that the court’s public standing is being harmed by conservative rulings.
TOTENBERG For the first time ever in modern court history, there’s no center. This court has been the most conservative court for at least 75 years. It’s also using the whip to try and push an extremely conservative agenda. The result doesn’t bode well for the institution. Gallup just revealed that 25 percent of respondents to the Court’s poll approving have fallen to an all-time low.
The PBS NewsHourFriday Night Washington Post columnist and MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart made a similar point: “I think the credibility of the court is now more on the line than ever. I hesitate to say that the legitimacy of the court is in question or at risk, because that’s just — that’s a step too far. But when you read this decision, and you read the concurring opinions, the legitimacy of the court is going — I think will be eroded.”
Totenberg was saddened by the 7-2 vote of the Supreme Court Roe vs. Wade was also mostly Republican-appointed, and that somehow William Brennan and Harry Blackmun were “centrist conservatives.”
TOTENBERG: They were just a different kind of Republican appointees. It was much more centrist than the conservative conservatism they represented, even though they were conservatives. That was gradually eroded. Today we are left with a court that has three Trump appointees, and none of Justice Merrick Garland. This would not have been possible if the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had blocked consideration for his nomination. These are not only hardball tactics but more common in the Senate and House than it is on the court.
SUSAN DAVIS hosts: Nina, courts have not taken controversial positions in the past, sometimes even against the will majority of the public.
TOTENBERG Every court has the ability to take a blow. The country was angry in 1962, when the majority of liberal courts banned prayers from public schools. But This court is more open to tears. This court is reaching for cases it does not have to yet. The affirmative action plan will be implemented next year. The court accepted a case about whether gay clients can be turned away by businesses. But there are many more.This will be yet another term for rock-em, socks-em.And I believe it will continue that way for the long-term.
NPR doesn’t practice centrism, they have been on a leftist tear from the beginning.
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