A glimpse at the hell we avoided
While the SCOTUS has routinely been shopping for lawsuits they can use to enact the far-right’s decades-old wish list, there was one crucial victory that the Biden administration got on Thursday after the court heard its last case for the term. The “Remain in Mexico” policy of the Trump era, in which those applying for asylum in the United States were forced to do so while staying in Mexico was halted by the Biden administration – one of his first acts as president. However, lower courts in Texas and Missouri sued despite the program officially being ended over a year ago.
As much as losses like the reversal of Roe v. Wade shows us the significance of one election, the wins do as well. This time, the Biden administration won by a close 5-4 margin – with Justices Kavanaugh and Roberts voting with the majority, and despite the protests of Gorsuch whose tantrum is only making the court look more partisan. If we had the former guy still in office for a second term, not only would SCOTUS go in an even more conservative (and deranged) direction, but the Remain in Mexico policy would have never been lifted.
These are the lives of people that were changed for the better due to Democrats being in power – and so far, the Biden administration has sent significantly fewer people back to Mexico than the former guy. This is why we must continue to vote harder and protect our majorities in 2022 by increasing voter registration and turnout.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making