'Mad with power' conservative Supreme Court justices accused of sowing 'chaos'
Hours before the Supreme Court is expected to make a landmark ruling on whether Donald Trump — or any president or ex-president — is free to break the law, a former Department of Justice official warned that the conservative wing of the court has become "mad with power."
Reacting to the court ruling on Friday that would gut the Chevron U.S.A. versus Natural Resources Defense Council standard that has been used for 40 years, Shan Wu claimed that Republican-appointed justices are taking part in a "revolution" aimed at upending decades of settled law.
In his column for the Daily Beast, he wrote the latest ruling by the "angry old men" means the "conservative majority checked off an important box in the Federalist Society’s checklist for reshaping America."
Writing, "All revolutions must start with sowing chaos, and chaos is what will ensue from the reversal of Chevron U.S.A. versus Natural Resources Defense Council, the case that established the 40-year-old precedent of giving deference to the expertise of federal agencies," Wu suggested it goes hand-in-hand with the conservative court gutting Roe v Wade just a year ago with the Dobbs decision.
"The reversal of Chevron assures the Roberts court of its place in history as a court that seeks to consolidate the reins of power over Americans in nine unelected public officials," he accused. "But its place in history will also include the accomplishment of driving public confidence in the high court to record lows that may ultimately fuel reform of the Court itself through greater ethics oversight and even dilution of its power through expanding its size."
Quoting the Greek tragedy Euripedes ("Whom the Gods would destroy they first make mad") attorney Wu warned, "This Supreme Court is mad with power. That madness may prove to be their undoing, but it most certainly is proving to be the undoing of many valuable rights and protections for the rest of us."
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