The lives and dreams of American women are now in the hands of Brett Kavanaugh

Less than four years ago, a tearful, angry Brett Kavanaugh, hours from confirmation to her lifetime appointment to America’s most powerful judiciary, swore that she would one day revenge for the way he was treated. “You’ve planted the wind,” he told Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee. “The country will reap whirlwinds.”

I suspect that he envisioned that his opportunity to bond with people he believed was wrong with him would come so quickly.

On Monday night, Politico published details of the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion in Dobbs sues Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the case is about to break with nearly half a century of court precedent. For the roughly 73 million Americans who are women of childbearing age (and millions not to mention those who look down on them on the surface), this is not good news.

“We hold that Roe and Casey must be denied,” wrote Justice Samuel Alito, a longtime enemy of reproductive freedom. This is the first time in court history that a draft ruling has been leaked. If anyone with a degree of ignorance about Susan Collins needs a definitive sign that the court has gone the cartoonish partisan path of the other two branches of the federal government, this is it. Alito could have written his opinion draft in crayons on the back of the Federation Cinema Night brochure and was just a little more clear.

There is much to blame where we find ourselves today. Much of the blame (or, in their view, “credit”) rests with right-wing zealots who have worked for this since the Reagan administration. If the fight against Roe as a person, they will be old enough to near the end of their reproductive years, if not already past them.

But we cannot talk about credit and blame without acknowledging the efforts of self-proclaimed, self-defeating mainstream Democrats and moderates who have not made threats against Roe serious enough or not interested enough in building any kind of long-term, organized, organized plan to save it other than crafting fundraising email subject lines that make donors feel as if chipping in $10 would make some sort of difference in the “war . “Prayer says: What the hell fight?

At the exact moment this news broke, my Instagram feed is a veritable museum of contemporary privilege as the super-rich — from the Kardashians to Hillary Clinton — walk the themed Met Gala red carpet. theme of the Gilded Age in a performance that feels obscene. Blake Lively appeared in a gown reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty! How very! I’m sure once they’ve finished their official event, Anna Wintour’s favorite political libertarian celebrities will find time to post about how gruesome this is. before continuing their important work in promoting celebrity awareness.

While Alito’s leaked comments are still drafts, if this is the final verdict of the court, abortion will immediately become illegal or restricted to at least 26 years. state. Concurring with Alito’s draft comments were four of the court’s other conservative judges—Thomas, Gorsuch, Barrett, and, yes, Brett Kavanaugh, the mother of the vortexes.

Since the 2016 election, the court has leaned sharply to the right, thanks to Mitch McConnell’s pre-election obstructionism, the retirement of Anthony Kennedy, and the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Kavanaugh now finds himself, ideologically, in the middle of everything, which means in 5-4 Roe v. Wade straw poll, he’s the swing voter.

This is ironic, and not the “like rain on your wedding day” kind of thing. In an editor’s note it said “so hot, why don’t you cross another path” this way. Kavanaugh can do the right thing by the American people (more than 70% of them don’t want to Roe overturned) or he can follow his threat to vent his fury on those who probably couldn’t pick him out of the lineup of chubby suburban dads.

Not that this will make a difference in fait compeli, but here’s a fun trivia: The average age of first-time mothers in the US is 26 years old. The average age of members of the US House of Representatives is twice as high – about 58. The average age of US Senators is close to 64. The median gender is “male”. I’m racking my brains and can’t think of a comparable legislature where young women can make rules governing the fertility of old men but can’t think of one. anything outside of very niche fantasy pages might require some creative googling to find.

It is absurd that we have come to this place, even though those of us above “come here is the end of Roe“Beat saw this happen even before Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his unscheduled retirement in 2018. I am sure that when we check our inbox tomorrow, there will be no “sorry for calling you hysterical cards” from Washington’s most profligate spenders who ended up telling us that our concerns were overblown. Senator Susan Collins will still be a senator tomorrow. Kathleen Parker will still be the columnist for Washington Post. Brian Stelter will still have a show on CNN.

In the Bullshit ecosystem, there are no consequences for being wrong, only rewards for double reduction.

Smash the trapdoor.