If The Supreme Court Is ‘Illegitimate,’ So Is Abortion, Gay Marriage, and Taking Prayer Out Of Schools

In their zeal to fundamentally transform America, Democrats have seized on the idea of “expanding” (read: packing) the Supreme Court. They claim numerous justices, especially Amy Coney Barrett, are “illegitimate.” But the very arguments they make against the youngest justice would invalidate some of their most cherished Supreme Court decisions, like abortion-on-demand, redefining marriage or gender, and taking God out of the public schools.

Sins of commission

Left-wing Democrats are lamenting the preliminary report of the president’s commission on the Supreme Court, which cautiously warned against their dream of packing the Supreme Court. “The risks of Court expansion are considerable, including that it could undermine the very goal of some of its proponents of restoring the Court’s legitimacy,” the commission said amid the 198 pages of discussion materials it released late last week. Changing the number of justices on the court to benefit your side of the aisle could be “perceived by many as a partisan maneuver.”

Leftists fulminated that the report had not only betrayed democracy but had further undermined the “legitimacy” of the Supreme Court. “We must restore legitimacy and integrity to the Court and undo the damage Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell have inflicted on our democracy,” said Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), and Congressmen Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Hank Johnson (D-GA), and Mondaire Jones (D-NY) in a joint statement.

The Left’s favorite branch of government’s sudden ‘legitimacy crisis’

This supposed “legitimacy crisis” dates, curiously, to moment when conservatives established a bona fide majority on the Supreme Court: the nomination of Justice Amy Coney Barrett by President Donald Trump 44 days before the 2020 presidential election. “We have a stilted, illegitimate, 6-3 conservative majority on the court,” said Senator Markey after her confirmation. “This is an illegitimate nomination,” said his West Coast colleague, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR). They were joined by some of the most powerful figures in the Democratic Party:

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said, “The whole process has been illegitimate”;Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said, “I will not lend legitimacy to Mitch McConnell’s efforts to steal another Supreme Court seat. … We need to treat this nomination like the illegitimate power grab that it is”;Barack Obama’s Attorney General and self-described “wingman” Eric Holder blasted the “illegitimate conservative majority on the court” and insisted that, “at a minimum as part of that reform package, I think additional justices need to be placed on the Supreme Court”;SenatorKirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said, “This nomination process is illegitimate”; andHillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign press