Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said he believes Democrats have a “fundamental misunderstanding” of the Supreme Court in the wake of several rulings that have prompted calls from the left for an examination of the high court’s ethics.
McConnell wrote in an opinion piece for the Washington Post on Monday that the Supreme Court is an “ideologically unpredictable body that takes cases as they come and produces diverse outcomes.” Cases involving affirmative action, student loan forgiveness, and gay rights resulted in ideologically split 6-3 decisions recently.
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These legal outcomes prompted President Joe Biden and several top Democrats to take aim at the high court and blast it for being politicized and influenced by Republican donors. However, McConnell and other Republicans have claimed Democrats are forgetting the purpose of the court.
“These escalating attacks from the left betray a fundamental misunderstanding of the court’s structure and purpose. It is an ideologically unpredictable body that takes cases as they come and produces diverse outcomes. Recent rulings put that reality in stark relief,” McConnell wrote.
The Republican leader said the court’s defining characteristic this term was a “politically unpredictable center.”
“Some court-watchers are quick to speculate about whether conservatives will break ranks and join the court’s three liberals in key decisions. But few bothered to ask whether one or more of the liberal justices would break ranks and conclude that racial discrimination in university admissions is unlawful — or if they would stand up to Biden’s student loan power grab,” McConnell wrote.
He cited the voting records of the justices, including an analysis from his staff that determined Justice Brett Kavanaugh was more likely to vote with liberal Justice Elena Kagan at 81% than conservative Justice Clarence Thomas at 61%.
“This is more than just the liberal peanut gallery rooting for its preferred outcomes — it reflects the reality, borne out by the decisions of the just-ended term, that the proper role of the court is ideologically unpredictable,” the minority leader continued.
McConnell said around 9% of this term’s cases resulted in a 6-3 decision. About 16% of the cases were decided by a majority coalition of the three liberal justices, Kagan and Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor, and Republican-appointed justices, McConnell argued.
The minority leader said Democrats’ problem with the high court is that it refuses to “reliably advance their party’s priorities.”
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“They bemoan a conservative majority that puts jurisprudence above politics. Well, the evidence suggests that anyone who expects the court to function as a mere extension of legislative power is bound to be disappointed,” McConnell wrote.
“This latest term demonstrates that no party wins or loses before the Supreme Court every time,” McConnell continued. “The court adheres to the Constitution and weighs each case on its merits. It should continue to do exactly that.”
