politics

This U.S. Senate Candidate Wants To Fix The Rogue Supreme Court

"Democrats who promise policy initiatives but don’t discuss court reform are living in a land of make believe."

The federal courts are delivering body blow after body blow to the Trump regime's authoritarian fantasies and John Roberts is having none of it.

The most pleasant surprise of the first six months of this second Trump term from hell – besides the rest of the world learning from America's unforced errors – has been the judiciary saying (mostly) in one voice: Absolutely not, you cannot pretend we don't have laws, your bad-faith legal arguments won't fly here. The analytics of federal court rulings since the regime began its anti-constitutional flurry is nothing short of heartening. Even Republican-appointed judges – even Trump appointees – are pushing back on Trump and co-president Stephen Miller and the devilish Russell Vought as they try to consolidate power like any other fascist regime.

Unfortunately – and predictably – John Roberts and his fellow right-wing Supreme Court justices have effectively neutralized the judiciary's defense of the nation. I suppose it's not all that surprising if you, like me, consider Roberts the Grand Overseer of the project to end democracy in the United States.

This week Roberts and the Court's far-right majority gave the regime the green light to kidnap immigrants and ship them to concentration camps in developing nations, where they will have no legal rights and will endure unspeakable treatment and even torture. Roberts gave the OK to this policy after a handful of federal judges had said no, you can't fucking do that. Roberts, who last year granted god-king status to Donald Trump, said this is all fine with him.

We have a judiciary that is now at war with itself thanks to a rogue institution that is incompatible with a functional democracy. Without SCOTUS reform, there is no way forward for American democracy.

Alex Rikleen, an online friend of mine and a candidate for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, agrees. Rikleen is challenging Senator Ed Markey in the 2026 midterms. It's not that Markey won't get behind progressive causes; he's among the furthest left senators serving today. But Markey, like almost all of his Democratic Senate colleagues, has refused to treat the current moment as an emergency. He has done nothing to slow the wheels of fascism as they churn away. Right now, that's all that matters.

"What would I do differently: use all the power available to push back," Rikleen, a former history teacher and a member of the Greatest Generation (millennials), told me in an interview. "It gets to the reason I’m running for Senate, and not a lower office – individual senators, even in the minority, have a lot or power available to them."

Rikleen said he would use every tool available to a senator to throw sand into the gears of authoritarianism: Deny unanimous consent, force quorum calls, and put holds on every Trump nominee. He would, in other words, get in the way, not just pore over public opinion polls and wait for the next election.

Rikleen, by every indication, would join the Fight Caucus – the small but growing share of Democratic lawmakers who understand the challenges of competitive authoritarianism and reject the amoral Carvillian model of allowing the fascist machine to run rampant in hopes that you might stop it in two or four years. "They called Donald Trump an existential threat, yet they’re falling back on the same strategies they used against past Republican administrations which they never described in such stark terms," Rikleen said on his campaign site. "If elected Democrats won’t take their own words seriously, they must be replaced by someone who will. The lessons from history are clear: we must fight, boldly, broadly, and now."

Rikleen is clear-eyed about the threat posed by a radicalized Supreme Court that fits the definition of a captured institution. Not a single progressive or pro-democracy policy can become law as long as Roberts and Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito use the so-called Major Questions Doctrine to shape every aspect of American life to their liking. Roberts, Alito, and Thomas have given elected Democrats no choice but to reform the Court.

"Democrats who promise policy initiatives, but don’t discuss court reform, are living in a land of make believe," he told me. "The notion that any of Medicare-for-all, or an overhaul of labor protections, or social media or AI regulations would get through this version of the Supreme Court is like that Jonathan Frakes meme: it’s pure fiction."

Rikleen is right. For a while we could pretend that the Supreme Court wouldn't get involved with every single issue of national import, that they would know their place and let the executive and legislative branches do their thing. We can't pretend any longer.

"The most important initiative will be to fix the current Court. This can only be done through expansion, impeachments, or both," Rikleen said, citing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's articles of impeachment against the deeply-compromised Thomas and Alito.

"I think the next-most likely reform would be the combination of term limits staggered to expire on an every-other-year basis, guaranteeing two new justices during each presidential term," Rikleen continued. "Over time, this creates a judiciary that is more ideologically consistent with the demonstrated will of the people."

"Democrats who promise major initiatives but who won’t commit to court reform are telling fairy tales," Rikleen said, leaving me no choice but to stand up and cheer like a big anti-fascist nerd. We've reached the point in democratic degradation where nothing matters unless the rogue Supreme Court is fixed.

Holding Elon Musk Accountable

Rikleen gets the official Bad Faith Times endorsement for myriad reasons, not least of which is his commitment to ensuring Elon Musk pays for his overthrow of the federal government and his months-long crime spree as head of DOGE.

Rikleen said his campaign is "working on a specific proposal detailing exactly how Democrats can investigate Musk, and how to hold him accountable where necessary. What powers do we have to launch what investigations and when? What crimes does it seem more likely that he committed and should therefore be an initial focal point for investigations? If investigations find evidence of crimes in various jurisdictions, then lay out the process for referral (i.e. if investigations find he likely committed criminal acts during his efforts relating to the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, then lay out what specifically a congressional committee can do to recommend and encourage the relevant Wisconsin authorities to act)."

Certainly there will be a faction of mainline Democrats who proclaim after the 2026 midterms that it's time to move on from Musk's many deadly crimes against the planet's most vulnerable people, that we must look forward, not back – the fatal flaw of the Obama presidency. That's all wrong. Musk and the DOGE bros must be held accountable for nullifying the power of the legislative branch and violating the constitution in ways no one had ever imagined before Musk took over as co-president.

"It's important to get specific on this, for two reasons. First: it shows that we’re not bluffing," Rikleen said, pointing to a report from Senator Elizabeth Warren documenting dozens of Musk's violations but specifying exactly zero ways to address the matter. "A bunch of elected officials issued vague threats to hold Musk accountable recently, but none that I saw laid out specifics. Given our country’s pathetic track record of holding powerful people accountable, I imagine many reacted to those threats with the same skepticism that I did."

I very much appreciate that Rikleen understands that Congress has to go after Musk so this does not happen again. There is no second option. There is no backing down after such egregious criminality.

"This isn’t just about Musk," he said. "Musk is the headline. He’s the figurehead. But our democracy will not survive if government officials are allowed to constantly break the law and then just return to a comfortable private life. ... We need to make it clear that there will be consequences for violating the law. It’s the right thing to do. And it’s the lawful thing to do."

Be sure to check out Rikleen's campaign site and join the fight to replace do-nothing Democrats like Ed Markey with Fight Caucus members like Alex Rikleen. Let's help give the good guys a little power to wield against the country's enemies.

Follow Denny Carter on Bluesky at @dennycarter.bsky.social