Supreme Court has ruled; now Congress must act

By Virginia Kase Solomón / For Tribune News Service

This Supreme Court term has not been good for democracy; to put it mildly.

Despite a few bright spots — like the decision overturning a lower court injunction barring the White House from communicating with social media companies about disinformation — voting rights and efforts to curb big money and dark money in politics have been drastically pared back.

The court removed the power of experts in administrative agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency or Food and Drug Administration to regulate and keep us safe and placed it in the courts. The court also undercut attempts to hold the perpetrators of the Jan. 6 insurrection, including former president Donald Trump, accountable.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito remain embroiled in a series of ethics scandals related to luxury travel and expensive gifts from major Republican donors that they did not reveal in their financial disclosures. Those scandals have drawn public ire and attention to the fact that Supreme Court justices are the only federal judges not subject to a binding code of ethics.

https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/comment-supreme-court-has-ruled-now-congress-must-act/