Billy Long: We must maintain the integrity of the Supreme Court

(From Seventh District Congressman Billy Long)

On Monday, October 26, Justice Amy Coney Barrett took a Constitutional oath to serve on the Supreme Court following a 52-48 Senate vote to confirm her nomination; not a single Democrat voted for her, not one despite her outstanding qualifications. 

Justice Barrett’s confirmation is a victory for the Constitution and the rule of law. Justice Barrett will be a fair arbiter and let the rule of law guide her decision-making, not personal beliefs. I applaud President Trump for picking an exemplary nominee and the Senate for confirming her.

The so called “tolerant left” has established a 3-decade-plus-long track record of contentious Supreme Court nominations wherein partisanship, character assassinations, and witch-hunts became the standard not the exception. 

Every escalation and every act of aggression has come from the Democrats; the American people’s decision to elect President Trump to the highest office in the land in 2016 only proved to exacerbate their bad behavior. 

The Democrats seem to have managed to dig a crawl space below the basement of their all- time low. While very unbecoming and uncalled for, it hasn’t always been like this. 

For the first two hundred years, Supreme Court nominations were generally civil, polite, and free from partisanship, drawing little push back from the opposing party. 

Judicial candidates were judged on their qualifications alone, and upon the rare occasion where the nominee was rejected, it had nothing to do with political affiliations. 

Unfortunately, this level of decorum came to a screeching halt in 1987 when a Democrat-controlled Senate shamefully defeated the nomination of one of the most respected lawyers in the country, Judge Robert Bork simply because he was conservative. 

Tragically, the Democrats got away with it. Four years later, President George H.W. Bush nominated Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, and Democrats once again engaged in what Justice Thomas rightly called “a high-tech lynching of a conservative black man who dared to disagree with the rich white liberals.” 

This time, however, the American people were wise to their games, and their attempts to scuttle his nomination failed. In 1992, when the shoe was on the other foot, Senate Republicans did not respond in-kind with Senate Democrats; Republicans chose instead to take the high road.

Under the category of “no good deed goes unpunished” our good faith was not reciprocated by the Democrats; their attacks only became more vicious, and a decade later, for the first time in history, Senate Democrats filibustered the nomination of Miguel Estrada. 

In fact, they filibustered his nomination an astounding 7 times accompanied by irreparable attacks and blatantly racist assertions. 

That day, Democrats ushered in an era of unprecedented obstructionism that, when paired with the most disgusting antics, opened a chasm in our judicial process that may never be filled. 

Their long history of attacks reached an all-time low when they openly tormented Justice Kavanaugh with devastating and unsubstantiated allegations that will follow his innocent children around for the rest of their lives. 

Further, the ways in which they exploited and used Dr. Ford under the guise of “believing and protecting victims” confirmed to the American public their brutal “no holds barred” brand of partisanship was here to stay. I knew better than to believe that President Trump nominating an extremely qualified and respected woman would dissuade Democrats from their poor behavior, but Justice Barrett’s hellish nomination process proved they have no intention of changing their spots. 

From the moment she was nominated, Democrats indicated they want to engage in unprecedented new lows by changing 150 years of our country’s norms by packing the Supreme Court. They have sent a resounding and chilling message to the American people that they do not want Justices who will engage in unbiased executions of the law; they would much rather see activist judges who will legislate from the bench and help Democrats achieve their political goals. 

The threat becomes far more concerning when faced with the real possibility that Joe Biden could be elected president and fulfill his promise to nominate a committee to study expanding the Supreme Court. 

I suppose the fact that past presidents have tried that—and failed miserably—is of no consequence to him. Speaker Pelosi has also expressed an openness to the idea saying her party should “take a look and see.” Radical left Representatives Ocasio-Cortez and Omar joined in, sharing that they believe Democrats should definitely move to expand the courts. 

Democrats have established a disturbing and disgraceful history of one-sided partisanship by politicizing Supreme Court nominations and have signaled to the American people that they no longer want the Supreme Court to be a non-partisan, separate branch of government. 

Their brazen attempts to use the judicial branch as a means of passing their radical socialist policies is both a disgusting and dangerous attempt to circumvent our laws by shredding the Constitution and engaging in a takeover that will fundamentally alter the way our nation is governed. 

Our founding fathers brilliantly crafted a series of checks and balances by establishing three equal branches of government, and they understood the value of separating the preservation and execution of the law from political ideologies. 

I believe that it is critical we maintain the integrity of the Supreme Court and our justice system by continuing to appoint justices who will enforce the laws, not bend to the will of a particular political party. 

Former Vice President Biden claims he doesn’t want the Supreme Court to become a “political football”, but worse yet it will become the reincarnation of “The Creature from the Black Lagoon’” A.K.A “Swamp” if the Democrats get their way, and that’s why we have a duty to stop that from ever happening.