A Dubious Victory

With their hasty appointment of Amy Coney Barrett, U.S. President Donald Trump and the Republicans have traded in even more of their credibility and have challenged the Democrats.

Donald Trump’s triumph in his hasty appointment of the deeply conservative Amy Coney Barrett is hardly going to win him more votes in the presidential election on Tuesday, Nov. 3. But then, this was not what he was trying to achieve anyway.

Trump has appointed three individuals to the Supreme Court during his term in office and has managed to tip the scales in the other direction, as six of the justices are now considered to be conservative. In doing so, he has helped the conservatives win a victory that they have been working toward for a long time. These appointments will prevent the U.S. from making very much progress over the years to come.

In exchange, Republicans have traded in even more of their already nearly non-existent credibility, as the very senators that confirmed Barrett to the Supreme Court a few days prior to this year’s election were also those who prevented Merrick Garland from being confirmed four years ago. The reason they gave back then was that eight months before Election Day would have been too close. There are no words to describe this that would be adequate.

However, the Democrats will not stand for it: Joe Biden would like to increase the number of positions at the Supreme Court from nine to 15, should he win the presidential election.