CNN analyst Van Jones had pointed criticism for the Supreme Court on Friday over what he described as the high court’s evermore out-of-touch decisions.
Jones said this week’s decisions which struck down affirmative action, opened the door for discrimination based on sexual orientation discrimination and shot down President Biden’s loan forgiveness plan create a crisis of legitimacy which could undermine the tenets of the entire country.
“This is dangerous stuff, because when you have a legitimacy crisis for the court, you have a legitimacy crisis for the country,” he argued. “You can imagine a generation of younger Americans looking at the Supreme Court that is so out of touch with their reality.”
“If I’m a young Black kid, you just made affirmative action no longer helpful to me, it’s harder for me to get an education. Now, you say if I get one, it’s harder to pay off my student loans. My cousin or my best friend or myself, who might be gay or lesbian, any store they walk in they might get discriminated against because the Supreme Court says it’s OK,” Jones continued. “This court’s not my friend. This court is my opponent. This court is my enemy.”
The court handed down three landmark decisions Thursday and Friday, settling the most significant cases of the court’s calendar. The rulings, all of which fell along ideological lines, call into question the legitimacy of the institution itself among court critics.
“You want to have a system that is responsive, that is flexible, and a Supreme Court that is fair, so that new generations can feel that America is their country. That it is on their side, it cares about them, it can hear their cry; it’s the opposite that’s happening,” Jones said.
“The younger generation’s values are being rubbed in the dog poo by the Supreme Court over and over again,” he added.
Jones also noted legitimacy concerns over the appointment of Justice Neil Gorsuch in 2017, after the seat formerly held by Justice Antonin Scalia was left vacant for months despite attempts by former President Obama to fill it.
The court has overturned multiple precedents in recent years, leading dissenting justices to warn about cases with wider ramifications on the rights of Americans and the sanctity of law.
“There’s a Supreme Court that is willing to strike down precedent and standing, and all the things that make the Supreme Court supreme have been put in the garbage can today. And it’s going to have ramifications for a long time,” Jones said.