”
Here it is, in a nutshell.
"The working class has no horse in the race for which judges sit on
the Supreme Court, or, for that matter, on which bourgeois political
party comes out
ahead in the election." The fight is between factions of the American
Oligarchy. We Working Class Americans never received our membership
cards. When we come to understand that we must walk away from the
Empire's demands, and form a new Worker's Party, consisting of All
Americans, we will finally be on the road to recovery.
Carl Jarvis
On 7/16/18, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
https://themilitant.com/2018/07/14/workers-struggles-are-key-not-whos-on-the-court/
Workers’ struggles are key, not who’s on the Court
By Terry Evans
Vol. 82/No. 27
July 23, 2018
When Anthony Kennedy announced he was retiring from the U.S. Supreme
Court, the liberal press and middle-class left let out a howl —
President Donald Trump is going to remake the court so deeply
reactionary that our social rights will be irrevocably gutted. They
desperately hope to step up their “resistance” to the president and his
nomination of long-time Judge Brett Kavanaugh, or at least put off the
confirmation vote until after this fall’s midterm election.
The Democrats dream of a sweep in November, though they’re enmeshed in a
passionate debate over what type of candidates to field. Some have gone
gaga over Democratic Socialists of America member Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez’s Democratic Party primary win in New York. Others respond
that candidates like her are a ticket to disaster in November. Either
way, NOW President Toni Van Pelt claimed July 10, “We are on the
threshold of the most consequential Congressional elections in modern
times.”
The working class has no horse in the race for which judges sit on the
Supreme Court, or, for that matter, on which bourgeois political party
comes out ahead in the election. The court exists to protect the
interests of the propertied owners. Changes to its composition will not
offer us significantly better or worse conditions. Our starting point
has to be relying on independent working-class mobilizations to fight
for our rights along the road to overthrowing capitalist rule and
putting workers and farmers in power.
The Supreme Court is used by the ruling class as an arbiter of conflicts
over how it rules. But it faces restrictions, written into the
Constitution that was marked by the impact of the revolutionary war that
overthrew the British Crown and subsequent class struggles that led to
the Bill of Rights and the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, adopted out
of the second American Revolution that overthrew slavery.
These codify protections against government attacks that working people
have used, need today and will use again in the years ahead as class
battles intensify in response to the deepening crisis of capitalist
rule. These include the right to freedom of speech and association, to
bear arms, against denial of due process of law, against unreasonable
search and seizure, and for equal protection of the law for all. Class
conscious workers demand these rights are upheld and we rely on our own
capacity to organize and struggle to ensure they can be used.
This question was addressed by Socialist Workers Party leader James P.
Cannon in 1937, when President Franklin Roosevelt tried to expand and
pack the Supreme Court with judges who agreed with him. It is through
the development of working-class struggles, Cannon argued, that we take
steps forward. “A ‘liberal’ Supreme Court can’t and won’t aid these
struggles,” he said. “And a ‘reactionary’ Supreme Court can’t stop them.”
Rights are won in the streets
It took disciplined mass struggle by millions to overturn Jim Crow
segregation, not some ruling by the Supreme Court. It will be workers’
capacity to organize, to overcome the divisions the rulers impose on us,
and to develop our fighting capabilities and class consciousness that
will put us in the best position to defend ourselves.
Before his death in 2016, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
accurately pointed to the narrow social composition of the Supreme
Court. But no change to the court’s composition will alter which class
it serves. The court will make all its decisions in accordance with the
rulers’ reading of what the relationship of class forces permits. This
is why justices have shifted their rulings on questions of Black and
women’s rights and on the right of gay people to marry.
The New York Times editorialized June 27 that women’s right to abortion
was preserved “solely on the strength of Justice Kennedy’s vote,” and
would face a severe threat from whoever Trump replaced him with. But
abortion rights are under attack in state after state today and have
been for years, under Democratic and Republican governments alike.
These assaults are made easier by the character of the Supreme Court’s
1973 Roe v. Wade ruling. The court didn’t base its verdict on a woman’s
unequivocal 14th Amendment right “to equal protection of the laws,” but
on medical criteria. It allowed state governments to restrict abortion
after “viability,” which advances in medical science make earlier during
pregnancy.
It is the liberals on the Supreme Court — and in general — who are the
most strident opponents of free speech and association. They fear the
working class, who they see — falsely — as increasingly bigoted and
racist, and want to restrict our rights.
A June 30 Times article quotes University of Michigan law professor
Catharine MacKinnon, who complains that the First Amendment “has become
a sword for authoritarians, racists and misogynists, Nazis and Klansmen,
pornographers and corporations buying elections.”
“Free speech reinforces and amplifies injustice,” the Times says.
Blows against freedom of association are being struck by those acting on
the call of Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters to drive government officials
from public life by harassing them. Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell was hounded by government opponents chanting, “We know where
you live,” as he left a restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky, July 7.
Far from being reactionary obstacles, we need hard-won political rights.
In This Issue
Front Page Articles •Unions rally in fight for gov’t-funded pensions
•SWP: Get US rulers’ troops, planes, bombs out of Korea!
•Workers’ struggles are key, not who’s on the Court
•‘We need to tell the truth’ about US colonial rule in Puerto Rico
•Washington, Moscow seek new Mideast arrangement
•Pittsburgh protests continue in fight to convict cop who shot Antwon Rose
Feature Articles •UK health workers beat back attack by hospital bosses
Also In This Issue •Twin Cities rally: ‘File charges against killer cop’
•Books by SWP leaders draw interest at Tehran book fair
•New Zealand retail store workers fight bosses’ attacks
•Hundreds celebrate life of ILWU fighter Byron Jacobs
•Oregon ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond freed!
On the Picket Line •Strikers chase scabs from Ontario salt mine
•Massachusetts natural gas workers fight National Grid lockout
•Illinois Teamsters end strike at American Bottling, make gains
•Vermont nurses call strike for wages, staffing
Books of the Month •Black troops had key role in revolutionary victory
over slavocracy
25, 50 and 75 years ago
Corrections
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