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Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opinion: The Supreme Court's Majority Has Ruled Itself Out of Business
What should we do with the Supreme Court now that we no longer need it? Surely, the six wise jurists who ruled last year that the President of the United States effectively had the powers of a king must have thought this through. After all, they are regularly described as being the 'conservative' members of the court. It is therefore hard to imagine that they would have taken an action so radical as to undo the entire rationale behind the American revolution without having given the consequences some thought. Surely, when they determined—without any Constitutional foundation, and in the face of considerable precedent to the contrary—that a president should be granted broad immunity for any action that could conceivably be considered 'official,' they must have thought about a situation in which a president might abuse such power? A situation like the one through which we are currently living, for example. After all, the former president about whom they were ruling had been impeached twice by Congress, was the defendant in multiple cases at the time of their decision and had been found guilty of 34 felony counts just a month beforehand. Perhaps they sought early retirement and a chance to spend more time on the yachts and private jets of their many 'friends.' Perhaps they thought the Supreme Court building might be converted to serve another purpose. It would, for example, make a fine clubhouse for members of the Federalist Society, its acres of grandiose marble and wood-paneled hideaways ideal for to hosting the private conversations of billionaires and their political errand boys. (And perhaps they also intended a similar future for the public servants, government agencies and grand buildings of our nation's capital that they must have known that our felon president would seek to destroy. After all, his desire for retribution was no secret at last summer.) You can easily imagine Clarence Thomas' sugar daddy Harlan Crow leaning forward from an overstuffed armchair, offering to light the cigars of Federalist Society kingpin Leonard Leo, Justice Samuel Alito and yes, Thomas too with a burning shred of the Constitution as they celebrate the victories dark money and unbridled judicial corruption had wrought. It might all be accompanied by a fine brandy, or perhaps a special bottle of well-chilled vodka gifted them by one of their great beneficiaries, Vladimir Putin. Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, one of the three members of the high court with the integrity and foresight to dissent from its Trump v. United States ruling, was crystal clear in her summary of what was actually going on. She argued eloquently that 'the President is now a king above the law' and, in a line that could ultimately serve as a eulogy for not just the court but our entire system of government, she concluded, 'With fear for our democracy, I dissent.' So you can't say they were not warned. Which, given the heights to which the members of the majority have risen in their distinguished careers, must have surely meant that they could foresee a time like the present, when the president could and would ignore laws and the courts themselves. Chief Justice John Roberts even had the prescience to include among the specific areas in which the president's actions could not be challenged: the issuing of pardons, the promulgation of immigration policies, the overseeing of foreign relations and the selection of judges. (Too bad SCOTUS will have been transformed into a truly moot court before Aileen Cannon makes her way to the bench.) Indeed, the same justices were also clear in asserting the president could direct the Justice Department to do his bidding, whatever it might be—the interests of the people of the United States be damned. Nor was their ruling conducted in a vacuum regarding who the first president to enter office with these expanded powers might be. They knew Donald Trump was the Republican nominee. They also knew they had made his election more likely by delaying presenting their decision until a date at which they knew every court case pending against him would have to be postponed until after the election and, very likely therefore, dropped altogether. It must be the case, then, that this was the outcome they anticipated—and helped engineer with their eyes wide open. So is it really a Constitutional crisis if it has been co-authored by our foremost interpreters of the Constitution? There is an irony, of course, in the fact that our high priests (and one priestess) of the law created the conditions in which President Trump would flex the powers they gave him. How? To choose one example, rounding up people without due process and sending them to a Central American concentration camp—and then, on live television, as he did during his meeting at the White House on Monday with El Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele, flout a unanimous decision by their court that his administration should take steps to undo some of that damage. It is an irony that will no doubt grow darker as Trump and his Department of Justice continue to flout, ignore, condemn and/or ridicule with other decisions from federal courts. As the story always goes, it you create the monster, sooner or later the monster destroys you. They knew all this and therefore knew that their collective decisions would likely make them not only America's most consequential Supreme Court, but also our last Supreme Court worthy of the name. But, perhaps they thought all that through. Perhaps, for example, in Trump eliminating key provisions from the Constitution—from Article 1 to Article 3 to much of the Bill of Rights itself—they saw a new future for the National Archives too. Perhaps they thought they could repurpose the limestone and granite edifice in which we currently keep and display the documents that helped usher America into being as the nation of laws we once were into a kind of a mausoleum in which to bury the last vestiges of American democracy—the right to due process, the right to freedom of speech and assembly, the right of all to vote, the spirit of welcoming and opportunity that once drew immigrants from around the world to the U.S. and made us the greatest country in the world. And having said all that, perhaps the systematic destruction of each of those foundational elements of our society does raise one more question. It's one our Chief Justice and his fellow grave-diggers may not have considered, and one for which there is no easy answer: What shall we call this country when the United States of America as we once knew and loved it no longer exists?
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
University of Texas System invests $100M in UT civics school: 'A crowning achievement'
The University of Texas System is investing $100 million in the School of Civic Leadership at its flagship campus in Austin. The "transformative" boost is meant to elevate the school into a leading hub for fostering future civic leaders and impactful change agents, board Chairman Kevin Eltife announced at a news conference Thursday alongside top Texas political leaders. The money will be used to renovate UT's Biological Laboratories building as the school's new home and create a "statement" building just north of campus, said Justin Dyer, the school's dean. It's currently housed in the Littlefield building, but the move will make the school more central and allow room for it to grow. Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick praised the investment during the news conference. Texas billionaire Harlan Crow, a Republican megadonor who has reportedly funded vacations for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and donated to the new University of Austin, was also pictured at the event, though he did not speak. "We've been hungry as leaders of this state to see the transformation and education that the University of Texas is delivering to this school," Abbott said. "It is absolutely essential that we as a state, the University of Texas as a university, that we be able to do the reformation ... in regards to classic education, to classic civics. To say the least, there's been a dramatic departure from those principles and precepts over the past two decades." The Texas Legislature in 2021 initially established the Civitas Institute, a think tank housed at UT and funded by the state, to foster intellectual diversity and explore foundational questions. In 2023, UT System regents voted to establish a school in which to house the Civitas Institute. Similar schools have been established across the country to restore trust among conservatives, who say are often outnumbered on university campuses and report distrust in higher education. Abbott and Patrick have taken particular interest in public universities over the last few sessions, particularly in rooting out diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and stripping power from faculty members, who the top government leaders have derided as too "woke" or liberal leaning. An attempt to end faculty tenure failed last session, however, Senate Bill 37 — a Patrick priority bill being considered in the current session — aims to significantly restructure governance in higher education by reducing faculty authority over governance, core curriculum and hiring. The school will offer its first undergraduate degree this fall, focused on civic honors. The Civic Leadership School offers a master's degree in civics and two minors — one in civics and one in philosophy, politics and economics. The school has 14 faculty members. Multiple incoming freshman who are pursuing an undergraduate degree at the Civic Leadership School gathered at Thursday's event to celebrate the news. Shane-David Willet said he hopes to pursue a degree in law and politics, and the announcement was "awesome." "Being a part of the first class, that can be a really special thing," Willet said. "You have the time to make real inroads. ... I'm really excited." Elia Davis, another incoming freshman, switched her major to civic honors after being admitted to the school, believing it was the best way to prepare her for a career in law and politics. She picked the program because of "how freethinking it is and how you can think about both conservative and liberal ideas without focusing on one or the other," Davis said. "It's a lot of free thinking, free speech, kind of going back to the old American ideals." Patrick touted the investment as another vehicle in which Texas is leading in higher education and soon in civic education. "This is a crowning achievement, and this will lead universities around the country to follow," Patrick said. "We've been given a magnificent opportunity from our founders and today is the day in Texas we begin to claim our inheritance once again." The institute has been criticized as being a conservative project because Republican lawmakers and donors helped organize it, the Texas Tribune reported in 2021, but the school has billed itself "pre-partisan" and although it's attractive to conservative students, it says it fosters discussion around all ideas. UT leaders say the school was founded on free speech and free inquiry, and explores education that is "needed to preserve constitutional democracy." The investment comes at a time when universities may face a funding shortfall due to institutional enhancement funds being cut from the state's budget proposal — depriving UT of an estimated $38 million — as well as sweeping federal funding cuts for research. Republican Sens. Brandon Creighton of Conroe and Paul Bettencourt of Houston said they would withhold extra funding for higher education institutions until universities assert their compliance with Senate Bill 17, a 2023 law that outlawed DEI initiatives and programs in colleges and universities. On Thursday morning, Eltife told regents and university leaders that this is a "trying time" due to "serious possible federal budget cuts to research and grants." "We are chosen to lead by example, to focus on our true mission, which is doing what's in the best interest of students and patients," he said. In an interview after the announcement, Eltife told the American-Statesman that this investment has been in the works for three or four years, and it reflects how the board's belief and confidence in this school and its potential. "We're putting our money where our mouth is," he said. "... The board is proud to make this investment, and we're going to do everything we need to to make sure this school is adequately funded and they can hire the right faculty, because our students are going to love this school." When asked about institutional enhancement funds, he said he has been in conversation with Patrick, who is supportive of higher education, and that he is confident higher education will be "happy" at the end of the legislative session. The boost is also one of the first major announcements since Davis was appointed to the top post at UT in February. "There is really other no time you can recall where this group of people has gathered before this event," Davis said, adding that it affects the "historical" impact the investment will have on students. A timeline for construction has not yet been announced, but Dyer, the school's dean, said leaders have been busy crafting classes, recruiting faculty members and preparing to welcome incoming freshman to the interdisciplinary program. "Crucially, this investment will position the University of Texas at Austin as the national leader in a growing system to restore classical and civic education in the heart of higher education," he said. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: University of Texas System announces $100M investment in civics school
