Kavanaugh appointment reflects deep divisions in the ruling class
Friday, October 12, 2018 at 12:00AM
Challenge_DesafĂ­o

The appointment of the sexist liar Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court exposes the true nature of a “representative democracy”, a system where workers are excluded from any influence in decision-making. President Trump, who lost the popular vote by over 2 million people, chose the nominee. It was reviewed by the Senate, which has two members from each state regardless of the size of the state. The Supreme Court contains 9 members appointed for life who are the final decision makers for the entire judicial branch. Compare the grip of this tiny number of people over the lives of 300 million workers in the U.S. with the vast opportunity for all workers under communism.
Communism is a system where direct participation by workers is essential; where workers play a continuous active part in every aspect of running society, and where the first obligation of leaders is the development of new leaders, not keeping a grip on power.  What a better world we can build.  
Courts Are Battle Ground Between Capitalist Factions
The courts are part of the bosses’ state apparatus. They exist to give a stamp of approval to the laws that keep the bosses in power over the working class and fill the prisons with our class brothers and sisters. They are also a place where the ruling class fights out their differences. Most Supreme Court cases are disputes over business and banking issues having nothing to do with workers.
Since it has the final say, battles over the make-up of the Supreme Court have occurred throughout U.S. history and always reflect conflicts within the ruling class. Every one of these fights over the court has been between one set of racist murderers versus another.
President Franklin Roosevelt, for example, was frustrated with the Supreme Court in the 1930s.  At that time, the issue was also a split between an isolationist, anti-regulation wing of the ruling class and the then emerging global, imperialist Rockefeller wing. The Rockefeller wing wanted far more regulation of business and banking to hold onto its power. They also needed more control to allow them to make rapid decisions. They anticipated a future of U.S. imperialism launching wars across the globe. The Rockefeller wing won and held power for over 60 years.
The modern battle over control of the Supreme Court began in 1982 with the formation of the Federalist Society. (NPR 6/28/18) This group of extremely conservative and libertarian lawyers and judges has grown into a forceful voice supporting the interests of the domestic section of the ruling class (see CD Editorial 9/24). That wing has targeted control of the judiciary as a strategy for competing with the larger more entrenched main wing capitalists (NPR 3/14/18).
These domestically oriented bosses wish to cut the size of the federal government, slash all regulations, and pass a huge tax cut for the rich. The 91 judges Trump has nominated came from a list prepared by the Federalist Society (Chicago Tribune Oct. 2018). The Federalist Society now dominates large sections of the federal courts. With the Kavanaugh appointment they are now the dominant section of the Supreme Court.
The main wing of the ruling class is equally aware of the need to control the Supreme Court to try to hold onto their dying empire. During Obama’s first term there was an effort urging Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to retire so she could be replaced by a younger person. She refused (The New Yorker Sept. 2018). Ginsberg, a liberal media icon, is herself a big racist who won’t hire Black law clerks (National Law Journal 2/1) and publicly attacked Colin Kapernick for kneeling (NY Times 10/11).
Then in early 2016, Justice Scalia, a member of the Federalist Society, died suddenly. Obama had his chance. He nominated Merrick Garland, but the Republicans refused to hold hearings to appoint him. The seat was saved til after the 2016 presidential election and the choice went to Trump.
The bosses obviously won’t say that they are fighting to control the courts to keep themselves in power. Instead they cynically use our hatred of sexism and racism to try to get us to fight their battles. When it appeared that Kavanaugh was sure to be appointed, the Democrats revealed the name of Christine Blasey Ford who credibly accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault and unleashed the honest passion of millions of anti-sexists to take Kavanaugh down. This was a corrupt ploy on their part.  These same liberal Democrats defended the serial sexual predator President Bill Clinton in the 1990s. They launched vicious attacks against the White House intern Monica Lewinsky, and several other women who had been abused by Clinton. Well known feminists of that time, like Gloria Steinem (The Atlantic 11/13/17) and women politicians like Maxine Waters (House of Representatives 12/18/98), openly defended Clinton just like Trump defended Kavanaugh.
In 1991 President George H. W. Bush nominated Judge Clarence Thomas, the most conservative of all the Justices, because he felt he needed a Black man. During those Senate hearings Anita Hill reported being sexually harassed by Thomas. It was two liberal Democrats, then Senator Joe Biden and Senator Ted Kennedy, who led the vicious, sexist attack against her. Just as with Kavanaugh, the woman was traumatized and the nominee became a Supreme Court Justice.
Don’t vote!—organize against sexism!
Brett Kavanaugh is a horrific sexist. But voting for the corrupt liberalism of the Democrats will not stop sexism. Only women and men workers fighting side by side against the bosses’ sexist division of the working class and the capitalist system that breeds it will lead to equality. Capitalism is steeped in sexist culture as we saw daily in the defenses of Kavanaugh and the Democrats exploitation of sexual assault victims. Sexist culture supports the capitalist profit generated by the gender wage gap, the super-exploitation of women and the added burdens they take on as mothers and caregivers.The Democrats are loyal to the same capitalist system as the Republicans. None are friends of workers.


Article originally appeared on The Revolutionary Communist Progressive Labor Party (http://www.plparchive.org/).
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