Today, in the latest of almost daily affronts to decency, the Court ruled that the U.S. EPA cannot regulate CO₂ emissions from power plants. This ruling effectively takes away the government's ability to combat climate change and meet the commitments we made to the Paris Accords. In effect, there now is no stopping catastrophic climate change. We're just going to have to get used to 100⁰+ temperatures, drought, floods, and no fresh water.
The Court can argue that Congress can enact legislation explicitly instructing EPA to regulate CO₂, but have you seen Congress? They're totally dysfunctional, and even without the filibuster still probably couldn't write meaningful climate-change laws.
Remember when an early Supreme Court draft on overturning Roe was leaked? The best Congress could do was take a meaningless vote to support abortion rights, a motion they knew would lose but was justified as getting opposing Republicans (and some Democrats) "on the record" so they could raise funds to possibly defeat them in November. But let's be clear - it had nothing to do with trying to preserve women's rights.
Remember when Roe actually was overturned? Congress basically just threw up their hands and said, "Well, what can we do? We held a meaningless straw vote a few months ago."
Remember when 19 schoolchildren were murdered by a psychotic gunman at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas? Best a highly motivated Congress could do was pass the weakest, most ineffectual gun-control legislation, rules that still did not ban semi-automatic assault weapons and would still allow them to be bought by teenagers. It did mange to close a few loopholes on background checks, but other loopholes still exist and new ones will emerge in the future.
No, Congress is incapable of doing jack-shit. Even if the filibuster were to be removed - which today prevents a lot of meaningful change - they are still too worried about the next election cycle, lobbyist funding, and their own career ambitions to accomplish anything of merit. They certainly aren't going to legislate a path to reduce carbon emissions and save the fucking planet.
The Executive Branch isn't much better. I've tried to support Biden as long as I could and he still isn't responsible for all of the economic and social problems Republicans accuse him of causing, but his lack of leadership and refusal to take a partisan position and stand up for something has also kept us in this current state of stasis. I get it that a bipartisan world would be the ideal, but we're not living in that ideal world now. It's not that you don't have to step on a few toes - you have to go out and stomp on those toes until they resemble strawberry yogurt.
So we now have a 6-3 conservative supermajority in the Supreme Court and no checks and balances on their agenda. Prayer in public schools? Sure, as long as it's Christian prayer. Public funding for private religious schools? The Court sees no problem there. Overturn a 100-year-old NYC rule prohibiting concealed weapons in public spaces? The Court considers THAT an unacceptable infringement on personal liberty, even as they rule that women must bear babies even if it's against their will, as if they were brood mares or some other form of livestock.
These are end times. We are doomed - fucking doomed I tell you. I can't see any scenario when any of this doesn't end badly.
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