Why it is critical that we defeat Republicans’ unprecedented Supreme Court obstruction

Our allies at the Alliance for Justice recently explained what a single seat on the Supreme Court could mean for all of the issues we as progressives care deeply about. In just this term:

The court is considering whether states can enact restrictions on abortion providers that may render Roe v. Wade a functional nullity; whether the government can effectively regulate the emissions of coal-burning power plants and meaningfully address climate change; whether public-sector workers can organize in effective unions; whether affirmative action is dead or alive; and whether the president’s policies on immigration are valid.

For years conservatives have counted on the Court as a key arm in their effort to repeal every progressive reform we have made as a country during the last 100 years. Putting it simply – they want to repeal the 20th century. The Alliance for Justice explains:

It’s no secret that plans are being made in right-wing think tanks and law firms, within the conservative media, and among Republican leaders to bring back to life the 19th-century notion that the Constitution prevents the government from interfering in business activity in any meaningful way.

If implemented as many conservatives hope, the minimum wage, environmental regulations, clean air and water laws, banking regulations, worker health and safety rules, and other similar regulations and statutes that protect the public welfare would fall. And once the concept that the regulation of economic activity is impermissible under the Constitution itself, corporations would be free to do whatever they want and no law could be passed to stop them.

Obstructing President Obama’s Supreme Court is part of this plan, making it critical that we win this fight.