"They're Coming For Us"

A friend this past weekend said that to me, the title above, in reference to the recent wave of authoritarian crackdowns on obviously non-conforming people, not that she is being explicitly harassed and punished for certain classes of behavior that the conservative majority finds condemnable. But she intends to stand up for the minority, especially young women who need abortions, and she feels the grip of power closing tightly around even the ability to protest. Persecuted groups tend to be, all things considered, relatively powerless to resist. They can get loud. That's about it. But NC Republicans have a law for that too, H40, the so-called "anti-rioting bill" which is moving forward and which intends to chill the resistance to Republican overreach.

Phil Berger Jr.

New anti-abortion laws. Heckling of public school teachers and the restrictions on education (especially the education of history, understanding and empathy). New restraints on voting. The further gerrymanding of the political (and policy) map, along with the ten thousand hobbling ropes conservative regimes throw around the capering legs of the young.

On top of the legislative power we fear sits the judicial in North Carolina, especially the Supreme Court, swelling like a June thunderhead, because the Court has already signaled that it will be the most nakedly partisan Court in history. They seem intent on giving the General Assembly bosses a free hand for making conservative orthodoxy eternal. I learned from Gene Nichols that Supreme Court Justice Phil Berger Jr. recently appeared to gloat (boasted "giddily" in a court opinion, according to Nichols) about a news article which described “a lasting Republican grip on the Supreme Court.” The Death Grip.

Hell, as soon as Chief Justice Paul Newby got his Republican majority, in January (last month, y'all!), they used that 5-2 majority to order reconsiderations of recent court decisions from the Democratic era -- the case on voter photo I.D. and a gerrymandering case involving NC State Senate seats. While ordering rehearings, the five conservatives on the Court could point to no changed circumstance to justify the exceedingly rare decision to re-litigate recent Court decisions. The only plausible reason was their new crushing majority. The makeup of the Court changed, the numbers shifted, and they clearly intend to use their power to reverse and dismantle on purely partisan grounds.

Never before had this happened. Never. Taking legal revenge simply because the membership on the Court had changed. The essence of a destructive and oppressive partisanship. Which is, indeed, coming for us.