Income Inequality

[WillowTree]

 

[Moonglow]

tl/dr

 

[sealybobo]

tl/dr

This is why you should never vote for Republicans. They'll appoint conservative judges who are responsible for the widening gap between the rich and rest of us.

If you carefully look at all of their decisions for the past few decades they have always sided with corporate America and against the average working person. The corporations own our Supreme Court which means they'll win every case even if they are wrong. Talk about legislating from the bench huh?

'Supreme Inequality' Makes A Case That The Top U.S. Court Has Widened The Wealth Gap

Cohen traces the Supreme Court's pivot away from protecting the rights of the poor and marginalized to 1969, when President Nixon appointed his first justice, Warren E. Burger. Burger tipped the Supreme Court to a conservative majority.

Conservative justices seized the Buckley opening, using this equivalence between money and speech to greatly expand corporate and wealthy people's "rights" to influence politics through spending (Citizens United v. FEC, 2010).

With Justice John Roberts at the helm, the Supreme Court severely limited class actions. Class actions had been a means for individuals with similar grievances and injuries to consolidate claims. Consolidation made it possible to show patterns of wrongdoing and to afford legal fees. Thus, while it may be difficult and unaffordable for one woman to show wage discrimination, 1.5 million women's pay records can demonstrate a clear pattern.

The Supreme Court has bowed to the steady corporate drumbeat on the need for "tort reform," code for reducing corporate liability for defective and injurious products.

the Supreme Court consolidated power by involving itself in every aspect of American life. The starkest example is Bush v. Gore that decided the 2000 presidential election. Bush v. Gore was done in haste, before Florida had time to complete its vote count.

Cohen proves his argument that the Supreme Court's decisions have widened the wealth gap, diminished consumers' abilities to right wrongs, limited individuals' say in our democracy and greatly empowered corporations.