I’ve made versions of this argument here in the Editors’ Blog and on the podcast many times. But it’s critical and so beyond dispute I wanted to state it here as clearly as possible. There is no future for civic democracy in this country without reforming the Supreme Court. Putting that more specifically, the only way to recover from Donald Trump’s rapid lunge into an authoritarian American future is a future point at which Democrats regain control of the federal government — a trifecta — and institute a series of laws which cut off the channels Trump has exploited to get us to this point. That doesn’t solve the problem of Trumpism. The core issue is that very large minority of Americans who support his style of autocratic government. But that cuts off many various paths Trump has used to build a presidential autocracy under the thin cover of law. You need, among other things, but as one of the simplest and least controversial things, a federal law to place strict limits on partisan and racial gerrymandering. It’s only one example out of many. I note it because it came up today when Kate and I recorded this week’s podcast. But even this comparatively uncontroversial federal statute would certainly be overturned by the Republican justices.
