Al Franken emerges to criticize democracy, labels SCOTUS illegitimate.

Democrats’ “Attack on Democracy” Slogan is Balderdash

Let’s get one thing straight: the Democrats’ new perpetual slogan about everything being an “attack on democracy” is complete balderdash. When you hear that phrase, all you’re hearing is someone who is upset that their side didn’t win on a particular issue. It’s almost always a projection – the old “Accusation in a Mirror” trick.

Franken Attacks Democracy

In a very dangerous attack on our democracy, former Senator Al Franken sat down with the Washington Post’s Dan Balz to help erode the legitimacy of our institutions. First, he attacked the Court for “gerrymandering.” It’s a common, if ineffective line of attack trotted out by the Democrats every few years – but only to attack red states. You’ll never hear, for example, Al Franken talk about Chicago’s Congressional Districts.

But the real attacks came later:

• “The Supreme Court, to me is illegitimate the way they didn’t take up [Merrick] Garland and on saying, ‘It’s an election year,’ and then they of course put in [Amy] Coney Barrett like eight days before the election. Then of course Dobbs and abortion, you know… but it’s more than that.”

Let’s take each in turn:

Garland Nomination

As for Garland, his behavior since becoming the Attorney General proves he shouldn’t have ever been within a country mile of a courtroom, let alone judge’s robes. That’s besides the point though; there is no constitutional requirement that the Senate act as a rubber stamp for the Executive Branch’s judicial nominees. In fact, it’s the literal opposite. The President is not a King. Congress is an equal branch of government, as is the judiciary. It’s Congress’ prerogative to approve, deny, or ignore nominees entirely. Period.

Dobbs Decision

As for the Dobbs decision that overturned the incorrect Roe decision, what is there to say? The Roe decision was utterly preposterous on every level, and was overturned by the Court. Isn’t that their job? Don’t Democrats (and Republicans) insist that the Court’s job includes judicial review – something that doesn’t appear in the Constitution? It’s not the job of the Court to invent new rights out of whole cloth. Dobbs was the correct decision, one that would vastly increase the Court’s legitimacy in a serious country that actually cared about the law.

Franken Blames Roberts

The hell of it is, even when Democrats are right, they’re wrong. Franken takes left-wing, Republican-appointed Chief Justice John Roberts to task and lays the blame at his feet. Which is where any questions about legitimacy should land – but of course, for the exact opposite reasons Franken would no doubt give, given enough time:

• “I think the Chief Justice is actually much more culpable for this division than people think,” Franken said before breaking down some of Justice Roberts previous votes. “I think Roberts is much more the villain in this than people give him credit for. So that’s just my opinion.”

Yeah, let’s look at some of those votes, shall we? Roberts has sided with the liberals in opposition to the Constitution many times since becoming Chief Justice. Just a few:

• Obamacare. Who could forget?
• Blocking Trump’s effort to get the citizenship question on the census
• Mail-in voting
• Letting ‘Dreamers’ stay in the country

The truth is, aside from Dobbs, most people probably couldn’t name a single time that the Court actually upheld the Constitution or sided with the right on any issue. Maybe Heller?

Franken’s complaint, despite all the rhetoric he uses to dress it up, is merely that the Supreme Court ruled against his wishes one time in his lifetime. And that, my friends, is what they mean by “democracy.” Their way, or no way.