A fringe minority in the Republican Party could topple the country’s democracy, claiming an outsized influence on politics and the future of the nation, according to a controversial former Democratic attorney general.
Former President Barack Obama’s AG Eric Holder told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday that a small demographic of the Republican Party wants to be a “minority party” with “majority power.”
“Can it get any worse for the American people in the Supreme Court’s new term?” Amanpour asked the 82nd Attorney General of the United States who served from 2009 to 2015. “I say that because a lot of their rulings have been out of step with what the majority of the people want.”
The first black man to hold the office of the attorney general and, who was later found in criminal contempt of court by the US House for failure to turn over documents related to the Fast and Furious scandal, said the Supreme Court could “absolutely” make life worse for many Americans.
“The court has, in the last term done things inconsistent with precedent,” said Holder. “I would say inconsistent with principle and only consistent with personnel. Like who serves on the court and that is not a way the Supreme Court should appropriately conduct itself. Could things get worse, oh absolutely.”
Looking ahead at the cases on the Supreme Court’s docket, the AG warned that Moore v Harper could potentially catastrophically alter voting rights for minorities in the future.
Moore v Harper will review “whether a state’s judicial branch may nullify the regulations governing the ‘Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives’ and replace them with regulations of the state courts’ own devising,” according to SCOTUSblog.
Giving states such authority will countermand the constitution, warned Holder.
“This is something that’s fundamentally inconsistent with the American system of checks and balances where legislators elect laws that are reviewed by courts and in certain instances can be vetoed by the governor,” Holder said.
“Independent doctrine theory,” is a “fringe, fringe theory” that should end in a unanimous vote in the Supreme Court, he said.
“That is of great concern to me. What is this court going to do not only in the Alabama case but with regard to Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act more generally,” Holder said, referring to parts of the act that prevent discrimination in voting based on race. “If the Supreme Court eviscerates, tries to take a really hard hand with regard to Section 2, it could render the 1965 Voting Rights Act close to meaningless. In essence, it would rewrite the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which is not a function that the court should be engaged in. That is something for the Legislature, for the Congress to do.”
Holder claimed the Republican Party is trying to use the case to maintain power regardless of election results.
“The danger really is that parts of the Republican Party have become comfortable with the notion that, in terms of popular support, they will be a minority party that has majority power,” Holder said. “We need to learn that from history, not only American history, but from European history as well … fascism rose in the 20th century in a lot of those European countries not because fascism was strong, but because the defense democracy was weak and unless we in America defend our democracy and push back against those illiberal forces, we could be in a place where we could lose our democracy.”
This isn’t the first time Holder has claimed changes to voting laws will impact minority participation. In June, Holder crossed swords with HBO’s Bill Maher over voter identification requirements, with Holder claiming voter ID laws are designed to suppress the minority vote. Maher quickly shut down the argument, pointing out that voter turnout among blacks increased in Georgia following the implementation of strict voter ID laws.
Georgia’s controversial voting law passed earlier this year was referred to as “Jim Crow 2.0” by President Joe Biden. However, black turnout wound up being through the roof during Georgia’s primary elections last month, with 857,401 Georgians casting in-person or absentee ballots during the state’s three-week early-voting period, compared to 299,347 casting early in-person ballots four years ago.
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