When I started this newsletter, I did it to share analyses I had been working on but not published yet and thoughts on issues I feel fall under the radar in secular spaces regarding politics. For years my commentary has focused on two aspects of secularity in the U.S. voting behavior and demographics. This newsletter reflects my need to expand the conversation about those issues while introducing new ones, like this week.

I’m not deep diving into some data or surveys this week. I will share some thoughts about the relationship between the nonreligious and the courts. Two recent events prompted these. First, I attended an excellent webinar about the infamous Kennedy v. Bremerton School District Supreme Court ruling. Second, I read a recent commentary by Russell Wheeler of the Brookings Institution regarding President Biden’s judicial appointments in his first two years.

A Conservative Institution

I have never been a big fan of the Supreme Court for various reasons related to my identity as a Puerto Rican and political scientist. As a Puerto Rican, I know how racist and imperialist the Supreme Court can be (check the Insular Cases). The victories many fellow liberals celebrate in the Court’s history occurred in the Warren Court era. But the Warren Court was anomalous. The Supreme Court is a conservative institution whose meetings are the equivalent of seances trying to divine the thoughts of long-dead dudes.

I started my journey away from religion not because I learned about evolution or physics. It was good old anticlericalism. I was suspicious of the power of the pastors and priests who ran the schools I went to as a child. Their authority was divine, and they interpreted the rules God set forth. I see the Supreme Court with those eyes, an institution with little accountability and the power to interpret the law as they see fit. Congress and the President are elected even if the Electoral College is not the best way to vote for a President. The Supreme Court? Appointed for life. Given the longevity of Justices, we will likely experience a conservative supermajority for the rest of my life.

Learning about the state of church/State separation post-Kennedy makes me feel that the nonreligious are playing a legal game of whack-a-mole. And as much as the secular movement is full of “debate me” types, court decisions are not based on who has the best and more sound argument but on who holds power. With lifetime judicial appointments, we’re going to have very long years.

This leads me to the Brookings piece I mentioned at the start. Even if President Biden fills every vacancy available in the next two years, he won’t achieve balance in the courts. Conservative judges are not retiring, so aside from vacancies, Biden is replacing retiring liberals. Though that generally helps on the age side and the racial and gender diversity side (since Biden has been nominating women and people of color to these seats), it won’t make much of a dent in the conservative takeover of the courts.

At a time when Christian Nationalism is an existential threat to the country, we have a judicial system that has been slowly taken over by those who want to undermine democracy. We need to think of alternatives to litigation. The Constitution is not going to save us.

Elsewhere

Since today is the start of Lent, you should read my piece published last week in Interfaith America, where I explain how I started celebrating a Secular Jesusless Xmas.