This excerpt is from a piece that originally ran on July 7, 2021.
“The three justices’ contempt for our democracy can’t be overstated,” said Nan Aron of the Alliance for Justice, which has campaigned for decades against Republican presidents’ high court nominees and for Democratic presidents’ ones.
Noting Barrett’s pivotal votes to roll back Covid restrictions, Aron said that while not every case in every term might come out the way Trump wanted, there’s little reason for him to be disillusioned with his picks.
“My sense is he was disappointed with the ACA case, [but] I think these justices fulfilled his dreams and those of Mitch McConnell and the Republican Party,” she said. “All three of them green-lit the death penalty, without even allowing lower courts to hear the issues.”
Aron acknowledged that some of the Trump appointees sometimes aren’t willing to go as far as Alito or Thomas, but she called those cases “few and far between.”
“It does appear that Kavanaugh and Barrett from time to time in very remote instances adopt John Roberts’ view on incrementalism,” she said. “They give all indications of reaching a result that will harm individuals across the board, but they take their time and do it slowly.”