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Syracuse DSA condemns the recent Supreme Court ruling that threatens protection of marginalized and colonized communities in America and dramatically limits access to the current education system. Already coming off one year since the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the curtailing of EPA powers to regulate air quality and carbon emissions, we already see the results of allowing hard won civil rights to remain issues of litigation as opposed to legislation.
As socialists, we cannot sit idly by as an unelected, reactionary judicial body influenced by right-wing billionaires slowly strips the rights away from working-class people. It is up to us to organize a movement that can build the kind of world we need. A world that can meaningfully address the systemic racism woven within its structure. A world where free, high-quality education is accessible from cradle to grave.
The Supreme Court rulings show us that the ruling-class will always oppose even the most basic interests of oppressed and working-class people. Dozens of cases, ranging from Dred Scott v. Sanford, Korematsu v. United States, to Plessy v. Ferguson have upheld the right to discriminate based on race, ethnicity, gender expression and sexual orientation. The most recent decisions should not be viewed as an extremist anomaly, but as a continuation of a trend—one that abets capitalist hegemony and white supremacy.
The Supreme Court, unlike every other court in the United States, has failed to adopt an ethics code that compels justices to recuse themselves from cases where there are clear conflicts of interests. Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, in particular, have accepted lavish trips and gifts from right-wing billionaires with business before the court.
This makes a mockery out of a major branch of American government, instead turning it into a transparent example of the two-tiered system conservative justices might deny exists—one designed for the wealthy, and one for everyone else.
We must not let empty promises by centrist Democrats derail and thwart demands for accountability that arise organically, products of the increasingly apparent contradictions of the capitalist system. Those demands for accountability and a truly just world cannot be paralyzed by election promises, freedoms to perhaps be realized in future election cycles. People are tired of their rights being used for fundraising pitches with no intention to actualize or advocate for them—they want a society that provides for their needs and defends their humanity in the here and now.
It is up to us to wield our collective power and make a better world, one built from the ashes of the old, and inspire our neighbors and comrades to make it with us.
July 3rd, 2023