OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The Biden administration is continuing to do all it can to undermine the integrity and legitimacy of the nation’s highest court after a series of rulings that the White House disagrees with, according to a new analysis.
According to the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC), the Department of Education earlier this week issued new “guidance” for universities and colleges that effectively informs institutions how to best ignore the U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling striking down racial preferences in admissions practices.
The organization noted further:
The document specifically tells admissions offices that while they can’t consider an applicant’s race in choosing whether or not to accept them, they can consider how an applicant’s race has affected their life. According to the examples provided in the guidance, universities could use “an applicant’s explanation about what it means to him to be the first Black violinist in his city’s youth orchestra or an applicant’s account of overcoming prejudice when she transferred to a rural high school where she was the only student of South Asian descent” as a factor in admitting them over another candidate.
In other words, the administration is giving schools the green light to continue pursuing the same discriminatory admissions schemes the Court just outlawed. Instead of schools using an applicant’s race to determine whether or not they are admitted, the guidance says, schools should use an applicant’s experience being that race. It is a distinction without a difference.
“Although this case is one of the most obvious examples of the Biden administration telling the public to ignore a legitimate Court decision, it is hardly the only one,” the organization noted further.
In June, the Court invalidated Biden’s student loan forgiveness initiative, a move that legal scholars from various perspectives had acknowledged as probably unconstitutional. However, following the ruling, Biden swiftly unveiled an alternative approach to sidestep it, persistently challenging the Court’s authority.
While refusing to present a substantive defense of his plan, Biden instead accused the court’s originalist justices of aligning with “Republican elected officials and special interests,” as if that is grounds to ignore the court and undermine its authority as a separate branch of government.
Furthermore, subsequent to the Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade last year, Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services released guidance urging medical professionals to disregard state abortion regulations and assuring them of legal protection when doing so, AMAC noted.
In addition to promoting the idea of disregarding Supreme Court rulings that Biden disagrees with, the administration has also tried to shift blame onto the court for the White House’s inability to enact an array of progressive policies. The approach has the unintended — or intended — consequence of eroding the court’s credibility and legitimacy, the organization added.
“Biden’s Supreme Court blame game is having a disastrous effect on the public’s perception of the Court as the justices are dragged into political battles. Just 40 percent of Americans now approve of the job the Supreme Court is doing, a record low. Just 25 percent of Americans say they have ‘a great deal’ of confidence in the Court as an institution,” AMAC noted further.
Notably, these unfavorable perceptions of the Supreme Court are prominent within the Democratic Party.
A survey conducted by the Heartland Institute and published last year revealed that a majority of self-identified Democrats support the idea of abolishing the court altogether. Furthermore, 56 percent of Democrats concurred with the notion that the Court is “a fundamentally racist institution,” while 67 percent expressed the view that it is a “fundamentally sexist institution that favors men over women.”
“Clearly, Biden’s efforts to de-legitimize the Court are having their intended effect,” AMAC notes. “The question now is what Republican lawmakers are willing to do about it – and if they’ll be able to convince voters of the severity of the crisis. Ultimately, the most effective way to save the Court as an institution will be democratically removing Biden and other officials who are trying to undermine it.”
