The Court’s Liberals Still Have Power
And they should use it.
To become law, a Supreme Court opinion needs the backing of five justices. That reality has forced progressive justices for almost 50 years to compromise with center-right justices, resulting in legal doctrine rife with contradictions and loopholes, which conservatives have ruthlessly exploited to pare back the rights of women, racial minorities, and the gay community. Progressive justices had to make these bargains in order to get the five votes needed to be in the majority. That’s how things work.
But now that the progressive bench has been whittled down to three, these justices’ job has changed. Now they will be writing dissents, and
