The Supreme Court has always been a fundamental issue
The Supreme Court has always been a fundamental issue since I first started voting in general elections (1980, Reagan v. Carter), my side lost, Reagan gave us the profoundly foul reign of Scalia, though we half lucked out with O'Connor and Kennedy. Reagan's successor Bush the elder gave us the measured David Souter and the disastrous Thomas (I was on the steps of the US Capitol chanting, ineffectively - chanting tends to be ineffective - against his confirmation).
From Clinton, we got Ginsburg (the notorious RBG did not appear out of nowhere, Bill Clinton nominated her) and Breyer.
George W Bush, unsurprisingly, tried to give us the profoundly unqualified Harriet Miers before relenting and nominating the extreme RWNJ Sam Alito, who sealed the deal on the notorious Citizens United decision, which so many of my friends inveigh against continually, wondering what can be done, oh what can be done?
Bush also gave us the current Chief Justice John Roberts, a hero and a leader in elevating corporate rights over the rights of individuals.
Obama gave us Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, rational and empathetic justices who care about both the rule of law and about the lives of those of us who actually live here.
You have to vote not only in the generals, but also in the midterms (Ds are very poor at this) to ensure that these Supreme Court life appointees aren't the goddamned life-appointed disasters like Scalia and Thomas, you also have to vote in midterms (those two-year after presidential election things where you elect Senators and Representatives), to stop the legislative and judicial obstructionism of the intransigently moronic Republican party.
If you want Citizens United reversed, and if you want some judicial decisions that might reflect what is good for the people (you), you might want to vote in both the general and the midterm elections for the candidate who best reflects your values and interests.
And if the GE candidate this year is not who you supported in the primaries this year, I'm sorry, but come out and vote in November anyway.
It's your future, not mine. I'm 55, well on to being done with this mess. The wrong Supreme Court justice can fuck things up for a lifetime.
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