Alex Gomez Special to the Arizona Daily Star
The Arizona Supreme Court upheld a draconian abortion ban from 1864 — one of the worst in the entire nation — rolling back the clock for Arizonans 160 years to the Civil War era. This should have felt unbelievable and outrageous, except it’s not an anomaly. State legislatures all across the country have been emboldened to roll back abortion rights since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago.
While the abortion fight is the most well-known example of the Supreme Court’s damage to Arizonans, it is far from the only instance in which extreme MAGA justices have trampled on the rights of people within our state in their full-throated pursuit to grab more power. In addition to gutting our reproductive rights, the Supreme Court has made it harder to regulate gun use, allowed massive corporations to pollute our air and water, helped politicians suppress people’s votes, and handed down many more rulings that have harmed Arizonans’ freedoms and well-being.
With President Trump’s three nominees securing a MAGA supermajority on the Supreme Court, it has been fully captured by mega-donors and anti-democratic power players. And the justices on the high court are ramming through their anti-freedom agenda while accepting lavish gifts from billionaire donors – who have their own political and economic agendas. Now, these justices are in a position to pay back the ultra-rich and powerful who finance their luxury vacations and private jet flights by making decisions that help them get richer and gain more power — while we, the people, pay the price.
The MAGA justices are not done yet — in fact, they are gearing up to go much further in their relentless power grab if they’re not stopped. Over the coming weeks, and particularly this June, they could make decisions that rewrite the rules in favor of special interests, billionaires, and major corporations at the expense of the American people. Nothing less than our fundamental freedoms, health and safety are on the line.
This Supreme Court has a track record of issuing damaging decisions that give us a roadmap for how their power grab would affect our state. The justices recently refused to block anti-immigration decisions coming out of Texas, spelling trouble for the future if they open the floodgates on immigration like they did on abortion — empowering states to be as extreme as they want in the absence of federal standards.
The Court also decimated common sense gun measures in recent years, preventing states from enacting prevention laws in the face of the endless onslaught of violence plaguing our communities. Now, thanks to the Supreme Court, Arizona Republicans have introduced a bevy of bills within the past few months that aim to allow concealed guns on campuses, ban municipalities from prohibiting gun shows, allow for ranchers to shoot border-crossers at will, and prevent red flag laws that would confiscate guns from those deemed a threat.
These actions have built upon the major set of voting rights decisions from the Supreme Court — with Arizona at the center — where extreme justices made progress in their long-standing push to suppress voting rights. After gutting the Voting Rights Act a decade ago, the Supreme Court issued its second major blow to this landmark legislation when the justices upheld discriminatory voting laws pushed through by Arizona’s then-Governor Doug Ducey, former Attorney General Mark Brnovich. This decision was approved along party lines in the state legislature — with all but one Republican lawmaker voting in the affirmative. This paved the way for more state policies across the country that make it harder for voters of color to cast their ballots.
So who is standing up for us? Who is fighting for our rights and our freedoms?
It doesn’t have to be this way. Our leaders have the ability to fix this court and protect our rights. Congress has the authority to fix the Supreme Court only if its members are bold enough to act. These Court decisions, and the dangerous policies they unleash, show us just how high the stakes are — and why Congress needs to make its choice and take immediate action. Are our leaders on our side, or on the side of power-hungry MAGA justices?
Donald Trump appointed half of the justices who now completely control the agenda. If Congress continues down a path of allowing the Court to protect their billionaire patrons than the welfare of the public, we will see our freedoms eroded even further.
This year, Arizonans have a crucial opportunity to hold our leaders accountable. We will make our voices heard, at a time when we have more leverage, because the stakes are too high not to. It’s time to take back our freedoms.
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