The U.S. Supreme Court Is Right About One Thing...

The U.S. Congress has avoided addressing major issues of the day for decades, effectively forcing the two other branches of government to make hard decisions and take the heat.

Photo by Nicolas Krebs on Unsplash

It’s become the norm that the U.S. Congress fails to address the important issues of the day. Congress has not done the hard work to:

• Fix immigration.

• Ensure women’s right to abortion.

• Get “weapons of war” off U.S. streets.

• Protect LGBTQ+ workers from harmful employment discrimination.

• Address climate change.

• Enforce anti-trust laws.

• Etc. etc.

So Democratic Pres. Joe Biden has issued more than 90 executive orders to fill the void. Many of Biden’s executive orders have caused unforeseen negative consequences for the economy (i.e. canceling Keystone pipeline) and societal disruption (i.e. men who “identify” as women are women).

Other issues have worked their way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has strayed increasingly from its historic role as the sole interpreter of the U.S. Constitution. Most recently, the Court issued an opinion curtailing the E.P.A.’s ability to curb emissions at power plants.

A new right-wing majority on the Court says it wants to get out of the business of judicial legislation.

The Problem is Congress

But where does that leave us when Congress either refuses to or is incapable of action?