To Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s legacy comes most notably from her persistence.
“While many things are won through great battles that suddenly shift everything at once,” he said, “some things are won with small, determined, continued demonstrations of persistence, and she produced that.”
“She is one of the most significant figures in American history,” Whitehouse said at a Wednesday webinar titled, “RBG is Gone: What Now?” He was joined by Visiting Professor of the Practice of Political Science Richard Arenberg, who is also the interim director of the Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy, to discuss the future of the Supreme Court and politics, in addition to the monumental impact of the late justice on American law and gender equality.
Whitehouse, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, also addressed the political implications of Ginsburg’s death, as Senate Republicans continue with plans to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. While Whitehouse said he doesn’t personally know Barrett, he fears that her confirmation could jeopardize both access to heath care and abortion rights if the court overturns the Affordable Care Act and Roe v. Wade.
Barrett’s confirmation hearing is set to start Oct. 12. Senate Democrats have called to delay the hearing after two senators on the committee tested positive for COVID-19.
In an interview with The Herald, Whitehouse said he is reluctant to hold a hearing on Barrett due to public health and safety concerns. He stressed that contact tracing and additional testing of those potentially exposed to the virus must occur before holding a hearing, adding, “to my knowledge, neither of those things have happened.”
Whitehouse also emphasized the unusual circumstances of Barrett’s nomination. “The conflict is trying to treat as normal a nomination process that has completely gone off all the normal rails, versus trying to do your job and trying to protect the court and have an effective hearing.”
During the event, Whitehouse described the actions by his Republican colleagues surrounding the Supreme Court vacancy as “dishonorable.”
“We have seen that the Republican desire to pack amenable justices onto the Supreme Court is pretty relentless and remorseless,” he told The Herald.
Arenberg and Whitehouse also considered suggestions from some Democrats in recent weeks to increase the number of justices of the Supreme Court. “We have a lot of measures that we could take regarding the Supreme Court,” Whitehouse said, while emphasizing that his primary focus is increasing transparency of the judicial nomination process.
One of Whitehouse’s main concerns is the power of special interest groups in nominating judges to federal courts. He pointed to the influence of the Federalist Society, a nationwide organization of conservative lawyers that has made judicial shortlists used by Republican presidents in court appointments. Through these organizations, Whitehouse argued that “a very small group of very big donors has achieved control over the selection process of justices and judges, particularly circuit court judges.”
Following their discussion of the U.S. judicial system, Arenberg and Whitehouse offered predictions about the outcome of the 2020 election. Whitehouse underscored that he is “not at all” confident that the Democrats will win a majority in the Senate. “I don’t think there is any room for relaxation or confidence until we have seen the vote counted.”
If his party does win a majority in Congress this November, enacting democracy reform, passing a “major climate change bill” and reversing corporate tax breaks will be at the top of Whitehouse’s legislative goals.
Near the end of the talk, Whitehouse directly addressed the college students in the virtual audience and urged them to vote in the upcoming election.
“The people who are running the United States government right now are visibly robbing your future and they are doing so for the worst possible reasons. And in part, they are doing it because they don’t think you will come out and vote,” Whitehouse said. “Please correct them, please show up and vote and make a difference, because if young voters do in fact show up, it changes outcomes.”
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