The leak of the Supreme Court draft opinion on May 2nd was not a leak. It was an announcement. The 5 most extreme judges of the Court announced to the world that they were in charge and that they would pursue a course of limiting what actually makes our nation great – the expansion of rights and inclusion of those who have been excluded and harmed.

May 2nd marks the end of the Roberts court. The 5 simply don’t need him. He can try to fit in, but they are in charge.

We need to be clear on who the 5 are and what the responsibility of Judge Roberts is for the destruction of legitimacy of the Supreme Court:

Three of the 5 are most probably perjurers. They claim that the argument of the Alito brief was so convincing that they changed their minds. Perhaps their minds are so weak that they never should have been considered for the Court, but it is more plausible that they simply lied during testimony to the Senate and during numerous meetings with individual Senators. These lies are felonies.

A fourth member of the 5 has absolutely no commitment to acting responsibly about conflicts of interest. His pathetic efforts to say that the legitimacy of the Court is in jeopardy simply ignores his significant responsibility for our distrust for the Court. He also is increasingly implicated in protecting his extremist wife’s involvement in the insurrection conspiracies.

The fifth judge has a long series of grudges against progress. He ignores or misrepresents history. He ignores that women were not considered citizens and are never mentioned in the Constitution and that African-Americans were mentioned only as enslaved people in efforts to enshrine and protect slavery. He goes so far as to quote an English misogynist who actually wrote about the legitimacy of marital rape.

Judge Roberts bears considerable responsibility for the wrecking of the legitimacy of our Supreme Court. In 2016 he could have announced publicly that preventing Senate hearings on a candidate for the Court for blatantly political reasons diminishes the legitimacy of the Court. But he remained silent. In 2020 he could have announced publicly that rushing through a candidate for the Court, again for blatantly political reasons, diminishes the legitimacy of the court. But again, he was silent. At any time, he could have created a code of ethics for the Court that clearly covered conflicts of interest. But he chooses inaction and silence. Even now he could privately and publicly remind the three justices who recently testified before Congress that Roe v. Wade was settled law all have a responsibility to live up to that testimony. But again, he is silent.

Now we are saddled with a Supreme Court that lacks integrity, a commitment to the Constitution, a commitment to the expansion of civil and human rights, and a fundamental commitment to justice. The vast majority of people in this country who believe in the progress we have made, who support the rights of women including the right to have an abortion, must organize to build a movement that can correct the current crisis. This will include demanding investigations of perjury and conflict of interest and pursuing ways to build a Court, including term limits and Court expansion, to create a Court that is legitimate and enjoys the faith of the American people. This will not be easy, but progress and defense of progress is never easy. Protecting and expanding the right to vote will be integral, as will continued movement building, demonstrations, and direct action. Legal efforts to block state actions against women and against voting will be essential. Also, we will have to build systems of access to abortion for all women who need this vital health service. That’s a good start.